Rfc9197
TitleData Fields for In Situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (IOAM)
AuthorF. Brockners, Ed., S. Bhandari, Ed., T. Mizrahi, Ed.
DateMay 2022
Format:HTML, TXT, PDF, XML
Status:PROPOSED STANDARD





Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                 F. Brockners, Ed.
Request for Comments: 9197                                         Cisco
Category: Standards Track                               S. Bhandari, Ed.
ISSN: 2070-1721                                              Thoughtspot
                                                         T. Mizrahi, Ed.
                                                                  Huawei
                                                                May 2022


  Data Fields for In Situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance
                                 (IOAM)

Abstract

   In situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (IOAM) collects
   operational and telemetry information in the packet while the packet
   traverses a path between two points in the network.  This document
   discusses the data fields and associated data types for IOAM.  IOAM-
   Data-Fields can be encapsulated into a variety of protocols, such as
   Network Service Header (NSH), Segment Routing, Generic Network
   Virtualization Encapsulation (Geneve), or IPv6.  IOAM can be used to
   complement OAM mechanisms based on, e.g., ICMP or other types of
   probe packets.

Status of This Memo

   This is an Internet Standards Track document.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
   Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9197.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2022 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
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   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the
   Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described
   in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction
   2.  Conventions
   3.  Scope, Applicability, and Assumptions
   4.  IOAM Data-Fields, Types, and Nodes
     4.1.  IOAM Data-Fields and Option-Types
     4.2.  IOAM-Domains and Types of IOAM Nodes
     4.3.  IOAM-Namespaces
     4.4.  IOAM Trace Option-Types
       4.4.1.  Pre-allocated and Incremental Trace Option-Types
       4.4.2.  IOAM Node Data Fields and Associated Formats
         4.4.2.1.  Hop_Lim and node_id Short
         4.4.2.2.  ingress_if_id and egress_if_id Short
         4.4.2.3.  Timestamp Seconds
         4.4.2.4.  Timestamp Fraction
         4.4.2.5.  Transit Delay
         4.4.2.6.  Namespace-Specific Data
         4.4.2.7.  Queue Depth
         4.4.2.8.  Checksum Complement
         4.4.2.9.  Hop_Lim and node_id Wide
         4.4.2.10. ingress_if_id and egress_if_id Wide
         4.4.2.11. Namespace-Specific Data Wide
         4.4.2.12. Buffer Occupancy
         4.4.2.13. Opaque State Snapshot
       4.4.3.  Examples of IOAM Node Data
     4.5.  IOAM Proof of Transit Option-Type
       4.5.1.  IOAM Proof of Transit Type 0
     4.6.  IOAM Edge-to-Edge Option-Type
   5.  Timestamp Formats
     5.1.  PTP Truncated Timestamp Format
     5.2.  NTP 64-Bit Timestamp Format
     5.3.  POSIX-Based Timestamp Format
   6.  IOAM Data Export
   7.  IANA Considerations
     7.1.  IOAM Option-Type Registry
     7.2.  IOAM Trace-Type Registry
     7.3.  IOAM Trace-Flags Registry
     7.4.  IOAM POT-Type Registry
     7.5.  IOAM POT-Flags Registry
     7.6.  IOAM E2E-Type Registry
     7.7.  IOAM Namespace-ID Registry
   8.  Management and Deployment Considerations
   9.  Security Considerations
   10. References
     10.1.  Normative References
     10.2.  Informative References
   Acknowledgements
   Contributors
   Authors' Addresses

1.  Introduction

   This document defines data fields for In situ Operations,
   Administration, and Maintenance (IOAM).  IOAM records OAM information
   within the packet while the packet traverses a particular network
   domain.  The term "in situ" refers to the fact that the OAM data is
   added to the data packets rather than being sent within packets
   specifically dedicated to OAM.  IOAM is used to complement
   mechanisms, such as Ping or Traceroute.  In terms of "active" or
   "passive" OAM, IOAM can be considered a hybrid OAM type.  "In situ"
   mechanisms do not require extra packets to be sent.  IOAM adds
   information to the already available data packets and therefore
   cannot be considered passive.  In terms of the classification given
   in [RFC7799], IOAM could be portrayed as Hybrid Type I.  IOAM
   mechanisms can be leveraged where mechanisms using, e.g., ICMP do not
   apply or do not offer the desired results, such as proving that a
   certain traffic flow takes a predefined path, Service Level Agreement
   (SLA) verification for the data traffic, detailed statistics on
   traffic distribution paths in networks that distribute traffic across
   multiple paths, or scenarios in which probe traffic is potentially
   handled differently from regular data traffic by the network devices.

   The term "in situ OAM" was originally motivated by the use of OAM-
   related mechanisms that add information into a packet.  This document
   uses IOAM as a term defining the IOAM technology.  IOAM includes "in
   situ" mechanisms but also mechanisms that could trigger the creation
   of additional packets dedicated to OAM.

2.  Conventions

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
   14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

   Abbreviations and definitions used in this document:

   E2E:           Edge to Edge

   Geneve:        Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation [RFC8926]

   IOAM:          In situ Operations, Administration, and Maintenance

   MTU:           Maximum Transmission Unit

   NSH:           Network Service Header [RFC8300]

   OAM:           Operations, Administration, and Maintenance

   PMTU:          Path MTU

   POT:           Proof of Transit

   Short format:  refers to an IOAM-Data-Field that comprises 4 octets

   SID:           Segment Identifier

   SR:            Segment Routing

   VXLAN-GPE:     Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network, Generic
                  Protocol Extension [NVO3-VXLAN-GPE]

   Wide format:   refers to an IOAM-Data-Field that comprises 8 octets

3.  Scope, Applicability, and Assumptions

   IOAM assumes a set of constraints as well as guiding principles and
   concepts that go hand in hand with the definition of the IOAM-Data-
   Fields.  These constraints, guiding principles, and concepts are
   described in this section.  A discussion of how IOAM-Data-Fields and
   the associated concepts are applied to an IOAM deployment are out of
   scope for this document.  Please refer to [IPPM-IOAM-DEPLOYMENT] for
   IOAM deployment considerations.

   Scope:
      This document defines the data fields and associated data types
      for IOAM.  The IOAM-Data-Fields can be encapsulated in a variety
      of protocols, including NSH, Segment Routing, Geneve, and IPv6.
      Specification details for these different protocols are outside
      the scope of this document.  It is expected that each such
      encapsulation would be specified by an RFC and jointly designed by
      the working group that develops or maintains the encapsulation
      protocol and the IETF IP Performance Measurement (IPPM) Working
      Group.

   Domain (or scope) of in situ OAM deployment:
      IOAM is focused on "limited domains", as defined in [RFC8799].
      For IOAM, a limited domain could, for example, be an enterprise
      campus using physical connections between devices or an overlay
      network using virtual connections/tunnels for connectivity between
      said devices.  A limited domain that uses IOAM may constitute one
      or multiple "IOAM-Domains", each disambiguated through separate
      namespace identifiers.  An IOAM-Domain is bounded by its perimeter
      or edge.  IOAM-Domains may overlap inside the limited domain.
      Designers of protocol encapsulations for IOAM specify mechanisms
      to ensure that IOAM data stays within an IOAM-Domain.  In
      addition, the operator of such a domain is expected to put
      provisions in place to ensure that IOAM data does not leak beyond
      the edge of an IOAM-Domain using, for example, packet filtering
      methods.  The operator SHOULD consider the potential operational
      impact of IOAM to mechanisms, such as ECMP processing (e.g., load-
      balancing schemes based on packet length could be impacted by the
      increased packet size due to IOAM), PMTU (i.e., ensure that the
      MTU of all links within a domain is sufficiently large to support
      the increased packet size due to IOAM), and ICMP message handling
      (i.e., in case of IPv6, IOAM support for ICMPv6 echo request/reply
      is desired, which would translate into ICMPv6 extensions to enable
      IOAM-Data-Fields to be copied from an echo request message to an
      echo reply message).

   IOAM control points:
      IOAM-Data-Fields are added to or removed from the user traffic by
      the devices that form the edge of a domain.  Devices that form an
      IOAM-Domain can add, update, or remove IOAM-Data-Fields.  Edge
      devices of an IOAM-Domain can be hosts or network devices.

   Traffic sets that IOAM is applied to:
      IOAM can be deployed on all or only on subsets of the user
      traffic.  Using IOAM on a selected set of traffic (e.g., per
      interface, based on an access control list or flow specification
      defining a specific set of traffic, etc.) could be useful in
      deployments where the cost of processing IOAM-Data-Fields by
      encapsulating, transit, or decapsulating nodes might be a concern
      from a performance or operational perspective.  Thus, limiting the
      amount of traffic IOAM is applied to could be beneficial in some
      deployments.

   Encapsulation independence:
      The definition of IOAM-Data-Fields is independent from the
      protocols the IOAM-Data-Fields are encapsulated into.  IOAM-Data-
      Fields can be encapsulated into several encapsulating protocols.

   Layering:
      If several encapsulation protocols (e.g., in case of tunneling)
      are stacked on top of each other, IOAM-Data-Fields could be
      present at multiple layers.  The behavior follows the "ships-in-
      the-night" model, i.e., IOAM-Data-Fields in one layer are
      independent from IOAM-Data-Fields in another layer.  Layering
      allows operators to instrument the protocol layer they want to
      measure.  The different layers could, but do not have to, share
      the same IOAM encapsulation mechanisms.

   IOAM implementation:
      The definition of the IOAM-Data-Fields takes the specifics of
      devices with hardware data planes and software data planes into
      account.

4.  IOAM Data-Fields, Types, and Nodes

   This section details IOAM-related nomenclature and describes data
   types, such as IOAM-Data-Fields, IOAM-Types, IOAM-Namespaces, as well
   as the different types of IOAM nodes.

4.1.  IOAM Data-Fields and Option-Types

   An IOAM-Data-Field is a set of bits with a defined format and
   meaning, which can be stored at a certain place in a packet for the
   purpose of IOAM.

   To accommodate the different uses of IOAM, IOAM-Data-Fields fall into
   different categories.  In IOAM, these categories are referred to as
   "IOAM-Option-Types".  A common registry is maintained for IOAM-
   Option-Types (see Section 7.1 for details).  Corresponding to these
   IOAM-Option-Types, different IOAM-Data-Fields are defined.

   This document defines four IOAM-Option-Types:

   *  Pre-allocated Trace Option-Type

   *  Incremental Trace Option-Type

   *  POT Option-Type

   *  E2E Option-Type

   Future IOAM-Option-Types can be allocated by IANA, as described in
   Section 7.1.

4.2.  IOAM-Domains and Types of IOAM Nodes

   Section 3 already mentioned that IOAM is expected to be deployed in a
   limited domain [RFC8799].  One or more IOAM-Option-Types are added to
   a packet upon entering an IOAM-Domain and are removed from the packet
   when exiting the domain.  Within the IOAM-Domain, the IOAM-Data-
   Fields MAY be updated by network nodes that the packet traverses.  An
   IOAM-Domain consists of "IOAM encapsulating nodes", "IOAM
   decapsulating nodes", and "IOAM transit nodes".  The role of a node
   (i.e., encapsulating, transit, and decapsulating) is defined within
   an IOAM-Namespace (see below).  A node can have different roles in
   different IOAM-Namespaces.

   A device that adds at least one IOAM-Option-Type to the packet is
   called an "IOAM encapsulating node", whereas a device that removes an
   IOAM-Option-Type is referred to as an "IOAM decapsulating node".
   Nodes within the domain that are aware of IOAM data and read, write,
   and/or process IOAM data are called "IOAM transit nodes".  IOAM nodes
   that add or remove the IOAM-Data-Fields can also update the IOAM-
   Data-Fields at the same time.  Or, in other words, IOAM encapsulating
   or decapsulating nodes can also serve as IOAM transit nodes at the
   same time.  Note that not every node in an IOAM-Domain needs to be an
   IOAM transit node.  For example, a deployment might require that
   packets traverse a set of firewalls that support IOAM.  In that case,
   only the set of firewall nodes would be IOAM transit nodes, rather
   than all nodes.

   An IOAM encapsulating node incorporates one or more IOAM-Option-Types
   (from the list of IOAM-Types, see Section 7.1) into packets that IOAM
   is enabled for.  If IOAM is enabled for a selected subset of the
   traffic, the IOAM encapsulating node is responsible for applying the
   IOAM functionality to the selected subset.

   An IOAM transit node reads, writes, and/or processes one or more of
   the IOAM-Data-Fields.  If both the Pre-allocated and the Incremental
   Trace Option-Types are present in the packet, each IOAM transit node,
   based on configuration and available implementation of IOAM, might
   populate IOAM trace data in either a Pre-allocated or Incremental
   Trace Option-Type but not both.  Note that not populating any of the
   Trace Option-Types is also valid behavior for an IOAM transit node.
   A transit node MUST ignore IOAM-Option-Types that it does not
   understand.  A transit node MUST NOT add new IOAM-Option-Types to a
   packet, MUST NOT remove IOAM-Option-Types from a packet, and MUST NOT
   change the IOAM-Data-Fields of an IOAM Edge-to-Edge Option-Type.

   An IOAM decapsulating node removes IOAM-Option-Type(s) from packets.

   The role of an IOAM encapsulating, IOAM transit, or IOAM
   decapsulating node is always performed within a specific IOAM-
   Namespace.  This means that an IOAM node that is, e.g., an IOAM
   decapsulating node for IOAM-Namespace "A" but not for IOAM-Namespace
   "B" will only remove the IOAM-Option-Types for IOAM-Namespace "A"
   from the packet.  Note that this applies even for IOAM-Option-Types
   that the node does not understand, for example, an IOAM-Option-Type
   other than the four described above, which is added in a future
   revision.

   IOAM-Namespaces allow for a namespace-specific definition and
   interpretation of IOAM-Data-Fields.  An interface identifier could,
   for example, point to a physical interface (e.g., to understand which
   physical interface of an aggregated link is used when receiving or
   transmitting a packet), whereas, in another case, it could refer to a
   logical interface (e.g., in case of tunnels).  Please refer to
   Section 4.3 for details on IOAM-Namespaces.

4.3.  IOAM-Namespaces

   IOAM-Namespaces add further context to IOAM-Option-Types and
   associated IOAM-Data-Fields.  The IOAM-Option-Types and associated
   IOAM-Data-Fields are interpreted as defined in this document,
   regardless of the value of the IOAM-Namespace.  However, IOAM-
   Namespaces provide a way to group nodes to support different
   deployment approaches of IOAM (see a few example use cases below).
   IOAM-Namespaces also help to resolve potential issues that can occur
   due to IOAM-Data-Fields not being globally unique (e.g., IOAM node
   identifiers do not have to be globally unique).  The significance of
   IOAM-Data-Fields is always within a particular IOAM-Namespace.  Given
   that IOAM-Data-Fields are always interpreted as the context of a
   specific namespace, the Namespace-ID field always needs to be carried
   along with the IOAM data-fields themselves.

   An IOAM-Namespace is identified by a 16-bit namespace identifier
   (Namespace-ID).  The IOAM-Namespace field is included in all the
   IOAM-Option-Types defined in this document and MUST be included in
   all future IOAM-Option-Types.  The Namespace-ID value is divided into
   two subranges:

   *  an operator-assigned range from 0x0001 to 0x7FFF and

   *  an IANA-assigned range from 0x8000 to 0xFFFF.

   The IANA-assigned range is intended to allow future extensions to
   have new and interoperable IOAM functionality, while the operator-
   assigned range is intended to be domain specific and managed by the
   network operator.  The Namespace-ID value of 0x0000 is the "Default-
   Namespace-ID".  The Default-Namespace-ID indicates that no specific
   namespace is associated with the IOAM-Data-Fields in the packet.  The
   Default-Namespace-ID MUST be supported by all nodes implementing
   IOAM.  A use case for the Default-Namespace-ID are deployments that
   do not leverage specific namespaces for some or all of their packets
   that carry IOAM-Data-Fields.

   Namespace identifiers allow devices that are IOAM capable to
   determine:

   *  whether one or more IOAM-Option-Types need to be processed by a
      device.  If the Namespace-ID contained in a packet does not match
      any Namespace-ID the node is configured to operate on, then the
      node MUST NOT change the contents of the IOAM-Data-Fields.

   *  which IOAM-Option-Type needs to be processed/updated in case there
      are multiple IOAM-Option-Types present in the packet.  Multiple
      IOAM-Option-Types can be present in a packet in case of
      overlapping IOAM-Domains or in case of a layered IOAM deployment.

   *  whether one or more IOAM-Option-Types have to be removed from the
      packet, e.g., at a domain edge or domain boundary.

   IOAM-Namespaces support several different uses:

   *  IOAM-Namespaces can be used by an operator to distinguish
      different IOAM-Domains.  Devices at edges of an IOAM-Domain can
      filter on Namespace-IDs to provide for proper IOAM-Domain
      isolation.

   *  IOAM-Namespaces provide additional context for IOAM-Data-Fields
      and, thus, can be used to ensure that IOAM-Data-Fields are unique
      and are interpreted properly by management stations or network
      controllers.  The node identifier field (node_id, see below) does
      not need to be unique in a deployment.  This could be the case if
      an operator wishes to use different node identifiers for different
      IOAM layers, even within the same device, or node identifiers
      might not be unique for other organizational reasons, such as
      after a merger of two formerly separated organizations.  The
      Namespace-ID can be used as a context identifier, such that the
      combination of node_id and Namespace-ID will always be unique.

   *  Similarly, IOAM-Namespaces can be used to define how certain IOAM-
      Data-Fields are interpreted; IOAM offers three different timestamp
      format options.  The Namespace-ID can be used to determine the
      timestamp format.  IOAM-Data-Fields (e.g., buffer occupancy) that
      do not have a unit associated are to be interpreted within the
      context of an IOAM-Namespace.

   *  IOAM-Namespaces can be used to identify different sets of devices
      (e.g., different types of devices) in a deployment; if an operator
      wants to insert different IOAM-Data-Fields based on the device,
      the devices could be grouped into multiple IOAM-Namespaces.  This
      could be due to the fact that the IOAM feature set differs between
      different sets of devices, or it could be for reasons of optimized
      space usage in the packet header.  It could also stem from
      hardware or operational limitations on the size of the trace data
      that can be added and processed, preventing collection of a full
      trace for a flow.

   *  By assigning different IOAM Namespace-IDs to different sets of
      nodes or network partitions and using a separate instance of an
      IOAM-Option-Type for each Namespace-ID, a full trace for a flow
      could be collected and constructed via partial traces from each
      IOAM-Option-Type in each of the packets in the flow.  For example,
      an operator could choose to group the devices of a domain into two
      IOAM-Namespaces in a way that each IOAM-Namespace is represented
      by one of two IOAM-Option-Types in the packet.  Each node would
      record data only for the IOAM-Namespace that it belongs to,
      ignoring the other IOAM-Option-Type with an IOAM-Namespace to
      which it doesn't belong.  To retrieve a full view of the
      deployment, the captured IOAM-Data-Fields of the two IOAM-
      Namespaces need to be correlated.

4.4.  IOAM Trace Option-Types

   In a typical deployment, all nodes in an IOAM-Domain would
   participate in IOAM; thus, they would be IOAM transit nodes, IOAM
   encapsulating nodes, or IOAM decapsulating nodes.  If not all nodes
   within a domain support IOAM functionality as defined in this
   document, IOAM tracing information (i.e., node data, see below) can
   only be collected on those nodes that support IOAM functionality as
   defined in this document.  Nodes that do not support IOAM
   functionality as defined in this document will forward the packet
   without any changes to the IOAM-Data-Fields.  The maximum number of
   hops and the minimum PMTU of the IOAM-Domain is assumed to be known.
   An overflow indicator (O-bit) is defined as one of the ways to deal
   with situations where the PMTU was underestimated, i.e., where the
   number of hops that are IOAM capable exceeds the available space in
   the packet.

   To optimize hardware and software implementations, IOAM tracing is
   defined as two separate options.  A deployment can choose to
   configure and support one or both of the following options.

   Pre-allocated Trace-Option:
      This trace option is defined as a container of node data fields
      (see below) with pre-allocated space for each node to populate its
      information.  This option is useful for implementations where it
      is efficient to allocate the space once and index into the array
      to populate the data during transit (e.g., software forwarders
      often fall into this class).  The IOAM encapsulating node
      allocates space for the Pre-allocated Trace Option-Type in the
      packet and sets corresponding fields in this IOAM-Option-Type.
      The IOAM encapsulating node allocates an array that is used to
      store operational data retrieved from every node while the packet
      traverses the domain.  IOAM transit nodes update the content of
      the array and possibly update the checksums of outer headers.  A
      pointer that is part of the IOAM trace data points to the next
      empty slot in the array.  An IOAM transit node that updates the
      content of the Pre-allocated Trace-Option also updates the value
      of the pointer, which specifies where the next IOAM transit node
      fills in its data.  The "node data list" array (see below) in the
      packet is populated iteratively as the packet traverses the
      network, starting with the last entry of the array, i.e., "node
      data list [n]" is the first entry to be populated, "node data list
      [n-1]" is the second one, etc.

   Incremental Trace-Option:
      This trace option is defined as a container of node data fields,
      where each node allocates and pushes its node data immediately
      following the option header.  This type of trace recording is
      useful for some of the hardware implementations, as it eliminates
      the need for the transit network elements to read the full array
      in the option and allows for as arbitrarily long packets as the
      MTU allows.  The IOAM encapsulating node allocates space for the
      Incremental Trace Option-Type.  Based on the operational state and
      configuration, the IOAM encapsulating node sets the fields in the
      Option-Type that control what IOAM-Data-Fields have to be
      collected and how large the node data list can grow.  IOAM transit
      nodes push their node data to the node data list subject to any
      protocol constraints of the encapsulating layer.  They then
      decrease the remaining length available to subsequent nodes and
      adjust the lengths and possibly checksums in outer headers.

   IOAM encapsulating nodes and IOAM decapsulating nodes that support
   tracing MUST support both Trace Option-Types.  For IOAM transit
   nodes, it is sufficient to support one of the Trace Option-Types.  In
   the event that both options are utilized in a deployment at the same
   time, the Incremental Trace-Option MUST be placed before the Pre-
   allocated Trace-Option.  Deployments that mix devices with either the
   Incremental Trace-Option or the Pre-allocated Trace-Option could
   result in both Option-Types being present in a packet.  Given that
   the operator knows which equipment is deployed in a particular IOAM-
   Domain, the operator will decide by means of configuration which
   type(s) of trace options will be used for a particular domain.

   Every node data entry holds information for a particular IOAM transit
   node that is traversed by a packet.  The IOAM decapsulating node
   removes the IOAM-Option-Types and processes and/or exports the
   associated data.  Like all IOAM-Data-Fields, the IOAM-Data-Fields of
   the IOAM Trace Option-Types are defined in the context of an IOAM-
   Namespace.

   IOAM tracing can collect the following types of information:

   *  Identification of the IOAM node.  An IOAM node identifier can
      match to a device identifier or a particular control point or
      subsystem within a device.

   *  Identification of the interface that a packet was received on,
      i.e., ingress interface.

   *  Identification of the interface that a packet was sent out on,
      i.e., egress interface.

   *  Time of day when the packet was processed by the node, as well as
      the transit delay.  Different definitions of processing time are
      feasible and expected, though it is important that all devices of
      an IOAM-Domain follow the same definition.

   *  Generic data, i.e., format-free information where syntax and
      semantics of the information is defined by the operator in a
      specific deployment.  For a specific IOAM-Namespace, all IOAM
      nodes have to interpret the generic data the same way.  Examples
      for generic IOAM data include geolocation information (location of
      the node at the time the packet was processed), buffer queue fill
      level or cache fill level at the time the packet was processed, or
      even a battery-charge level.

   *  Information to detect whether IOAM trace data was added at every
      hop or whether certain hops in the domain weren't IOAM transit
      nodes.

   It should be noted that the semantics of some of the node data fields
   that are defined below, such as the queue depth and buffer occupancy,
   are implementation specific.  This approach is intended to allow IOAM
   nodes with various different architectures.

4.4.1.  Pre-allocated and Incremental Trace Option-Types

   The IOAM Pre-allocated Trace-Option and the IOAM Incremental Trace-
   Option have similar formats.  Except where noted below, the internal
   formats and fields of the two trace options are identical.  Both
   trace options consist of a fixed-size "trace option header" and a
   variable data space to store gathered data, i.e., the "node data
   list".  An IOAM transit node (that is, not an IOAM encapsulating node
   or IOAM decapsulating node) MUST NOT modify any of the fields in the
   fixed-size "trace option header", other than Flags" and
   "RemainingLen", i.e., an IOAM transit node MUST NOT modify the
   Namespace-ID, NodeLen, IOAM Trace-Type, or Reserved fields.

   The Pre-allocated and Incremental Trace-Option headers:


    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |        Namespace-ID           |NodeLen  | Flags | RemainingLen|
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |               IOAM Trace-Type                 |  Reserved     |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   The trace option data MUST be aligned by 4 octets:

   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+<-+
   |                                                               |  |
   |                        node data list [0]                     |  |
   |                                                               |  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+  D
   |                                                               |  a
   |                        node data list [1]                     |  t
   |                                                               |  a
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   ~                             ...                               ~  S
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+  p
   |                                                               |  a
   |                        node data list [n-1]                   |  c
   |                                                               |  e
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+  |
   |                                                               |  |
   |                        node data list [n]                     |  |
   |                                                               |  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+<-+

   Namespace-ID:
      16-bit identifier of an IOAM-Namespace.  The Namespace-ID value of
      0x0000 is defined as the "Default-Namespace-ID" (see Section 4.3)
      and MUST be known to all the nodes implementing IOAM.  For any
      other Namespace-ID value that does not match any Namespace-ID the
      node is configured to operate on, the node MUST NOT change the
      contents of the IOAM-Data-Fields.

   NodeLen:
      5-bit unsigned integer.  This field specifies the length of data
      added by each node in multiples of 4 octets, excluding the length
      of the "Opaque State Snapshot" field.

      If IOAM Trace-Type Bit 22 is not set, then NodeLen specifies the
      actual length added by each node.  If IOAM Trace-Type Bit 22 is
      set, then the actual length added by a node would be (NodeLen +
      length of the "Opaque State Snapshot" field) in 4-octet units.

      For example, if 3 IOAM Trace-Type bits are set and none of them
      are in wide format, then NodeLen would be 3.  If 3 IOAM Trace-Type
      bits are set and 2 of them are wide, then NodeLen would be 5.

      An IOAM encapsulating node MUST set NodeLen.

      A node receiving an IOAM Pre-allocated or Incremental Trace-Option
      relies on the NodeLen value.

   Flags:
      4-bit field.  Flags are allocated by IANA, as specified in
      Section 7.3.  This document allocates a single flag as follows:

      Bit 0:
         "Overflow" (O-bit) (most significant bit).  In case a network
         element is supposed to add node data to a packet but detects
         that there are not enough octets left to record the node data,
         the network element MUST NOT add any fields and MUST set the
         overflow "O-bit" to "1" in the IOAM Trace-Option header.  This
         is useful for transit nodes to ignore further processing of the
         option.

   RemainingLen:
      7-bit unsigned integer.  This field specifies the data space in
      multiples of 4 octets remaining for recording the node data before
      the node data list is considered to have overflowed.  The sender
      MUST assign the initial value of the RemainingLen field.  The
      sender MAY calculate the value of the RemainingLen field by
      computing the number of node data bytes allowed before exceeding
      the PMTU, given that the PMTU is known to the sender.  Subsequent
      nodes can carry out a simple comparison between RemainingLen and
      NodeLen, along with the length of the "Opaque State Snapshot", if
      applicable, to determine whether or not data can be added by this
      node.  When node data is added, the node MUST decrease
      RemainingLen by the amount of data added.  In the Pre-allocated
      Trace-Option, RemainingLen is used to derive the offset in data
      space to record the node data element.  Specifically, the
      recording of the node data element would start from RemainingLen -
      NodeLen - size of (opaque snapshot) in 4-octet units.  If
      RemainingLen in a Pre-allocated Trace-Option exceeds the length of
      the option, as specified in the lower-layer header (which is not
      within the scope of this document), then the node MUST NOT add any
      fields.

   IOAM Trace-Type:
      24-bit identifier that specifies which data types are used in this
      node data list.

      The IOAM Trace-Type value is a bit field.  The following bits are
      defined in this document, with details on each bit described in
      Section 4.4.2.  The order of packing the data fields in each node
      data element follows the bit order of the IOAM Trace-Type field as
      follows:

      Bit 0     Most significant bit.  When set, indicates the presence
                of Hop_Lim and node_id (short format) in the node data.

      Bit 1     When set, indicates the presence of ingress_if_id and
                egress_if_id (short format) in the node data.

      Bit 2     When set, indicates the presence of timestamp seconds in
                the node data.

      Bit 3     When set, indicates the presence of timestamp fraction
                in the node data.

      Bit 4     When set, indicates the presence of transit delay in the
                node data.

      Bit 5     When set, indicates the presence of IOAM-Namespace-
                specific data in short format in the node data.

      Bit 6     When set, indicates the presence of queue depth in the
                node data.

      Bit 7     When set, indicates the presence of the Checksum
                Complement node data.

      Bit 8     When set, indicates the presence of Hop_Lim and node_id
                in wide format in the node data.

      Bit 9     When set, indicates the presence of ingress_if_id and
                egress_if_id in wide format in the node data.

      Bit 10    When set, indicates the presence of IOAM-Namespace-
                specific data in wide format in the node data.

      Bit 11    When set, indicates the presence of buffer occupancy in
                the node data.

      Bits 12-21  Undefined.  These values are available for future
                assignment in the IOAM Trace-Type Registry
                (Section 7.2).  Every future node data field
                corresponding to one of these bits MUST be 4 octets
                long.  An IOAM encapsulating node MUST set the value of
                each undefined bit to 0.  If an IOAM transit node
                receives a packet with one or more of these bits set to
                1, it MUST either:

                1.  add corresponding node data filled with the reserved
                    value 0xFFFFFFFF after the node data fields for the
                    IOAM Trace-Type bits defined above, such that the
                    total node data added by this node in units of 4
                    octets is equal to NodeLen or

                2.  not add any node data fields to the packet, even for
                    the IOAM Trace-Type bits defined above.

      Bit 22    When set, indicates the presence of the variable-length
                Opaque State Snapshot field.

      Bit 23    Reserved; MUST be set to zero upon transmission and be
                ignored upon receipt.  This bit is reserved to allow for
                future extensions of the IOAM Trace-Type bit field.

      Section 4.4.2 describes the IOAM-Data-Types and their formats.
      Within an IOAM-Domain, possible combinations of these bits making
      the IOAM Trace-Type can be restricted by configuration knobs.

   Reserved:
      8 bits.  An IOAM encapsulating node MUST set the value to zero
      upon transmission.  IOAM transit nodes MUST ignore the received
      value.

   Node data List [n]:
      Variable-length field.  This is a list of node data elements where
      the content of each node data element is determined by the IOAM
      Trace-Type.  The order of packing the data fields in each node
      data element follows the bit order of the IOAM Trace-Type field.
      Each node MUST prepend its node data element in front of the node
      data elements that it received, such that the transmitted node
      data list begins with this node's data element as the first
      populated element in the list.  The last node data element in this
      list is the node data of the first IOAM-capable node in the path.
      Populating the node data list in this way ensures that the order
      of the node data list is the same for Incremental and Pre-
      allocated Trace-Options.  In the Pre-allocated Trace-Option, the
      index contained in RemainingLen identifies the offset for current
      active node data to be populated.

4.4.2.  IOAM Node Data Fields and Associated Formats

   All the IOAM-Data-Fields MUST be aligned by 4 octets.  If a node that
   is supposed to update an IOAM-Data-Field is not capable of populating
   the value of a field set in the IOAM Trace-Type, the field value MUST
   be set to 0xFFFFFFFF for 4-octet fields or 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF for
   8-octet fields, indicating that the value is not populated, except
   when explicitly specified in the field description below.

   Some IOAM-Data-Fields defined below, such as interface identifiers or
   IOAM-Namespace-specific data, are defined in both "short format" and
   "wide format".  The use of "short format" or "wide format" is not
   mutually exclusive.  A deployment could choose to leverage both.  For
   example, ingress_if_id_(short format) could be an identifier for the
   physical interface, whereas ingress_if_id_(wide format) could be an
   identifier for a logical sub-interface of that physical interface.

   Data fields and associated data types for each of the IOAM-Data-
   Fields are specified in the following sections.  The definition of
   IOAM-Data-Fields focuses on the syntax of the data fields and avoids
   specifying the semantics where feasible.  This is why no units are
   defined for data fields, e.g., like "buffer occupancy" or "queue
   depth".  With this approach, nodes can supply the information in
   their original format and are not required to perform unit or format
   conversions.  Systems that further process IOAM information, e.g.,
   like a network management system, are assumed to also handle unit
   conversions as part of their IOAM-Data-Fields processing.  The
   combination of a particular data field and the Namespace-ID provides
   for the context to interpret the provided data appropriately.

4.4.2.1.  Hop_Lim and node_id Short

   The "Hop_Lim and node_id short" field is a 4-octet field that is
   defined as follows:

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   Hop_Lim     |              node_id                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Hop_Lim:
      1-octet unsigned integer.  It is set to the Hop Limit value in the
      packet at egress from the node that records this data.  Hop Limit
      information is used to identify the location of the node in the
      communication path.  This is copied from the lower layer, e.g.,
      TTL value in IPv4 header or Hop Limit field from IPv6 header of
      the packet when the packet is ready for transmission.  The
      semantics of the Hop_Lim field depend on the lower-layer protocol
      that IOAM is encapsulated into; therefore, its specific semantics
      are outside the scope of this memo.  The value of this field MUST
      be set to 0xff when the lower level does not have a field
      equivalent to TTL / Hop Limit.

   node_id:
      3-octet unsigned integer.  A node identifier field to uniquely
      identify a node within the IOAM-Namespace and associated IOAM-
      Domain.  The procedure to allocate, manage, and map the node_ids
      is beyond the scope of this document.  See [IPPM-IOAM-DEPLOYMENT]
      for a discussion of deployment-related aspects of the node_id.

4.4.2.2.  ingress_if_id and egress_if_id Short

   The "ingress_if_id and egress_if_id" field is a 4-octet field that is
   defined as follows:

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     ingress_if_id             |         egress_if_id          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   ingress_if_id:
      2-octet unsigned integer.  An interface identifier to record the
      ingress interface the packet was received on.

   egress_if_id:
      2-octet unsigned integer.  An interface identifier to record the
      egress interface the packet is forwarded out of.

   Note that due to the fact that IOAM uses its own IOAM-Namespaces for
   IOAM-Data-Fields, data fields, like interface identifiers, can be
   used in a flexible way to represent system resources that are
   associated with ingressing or egressing packets, i.e., ingress_if_id
   could represent a physical interface, a virtual or logical interface,
   or even a queue.

4.4.2.3.  Timestamp Seconds

   The "timestamp seconds" field is a 4-octet unsigned integer field.
   It contains the absolute timestamp in seconds that specifies the time
   at which the packet was received by the node.  This field has three
   possible formats, based on either the Precision Time Protocol (PTP)
   (see e.g., [RFC8877]), NTP [RFC5905], or POSIX [POSIX].  The three
   timestamp formats are specified in Section 5.  In all three cases,
   the timestamp seconds field contains the 32 most significant bits of
   the timestamp format that is specified in Section 5.  If a node is
   not capable of populating this field, it assigns the value
   0xFFFFFFFF.  Note that this is a legitimate value that is valid for 1
   second in approximately 136 years; the analyzer has to correlate
   several packets or compare the timestamp value to its own time of day
   in order to detect the error indication.

4.4.2.4.  Timestamp Fraction

   The "timestamp fraction" field is a 4-octet unsigned integer field.
   Fraction specifies the fractional portion of the number of seconds
   since the NTP epoch [RFC8877].  The field specifies the time at which
   the packet was received by the node.  This field has three possible
   formats, based on either PTP (see e.g., [RFC8877]), NTP [RFC5905], or
   POSIX [POSIX].  The three timestamp formats are specified in
   Section 5.  In all three cases, the timestamp fraction field contains
   the 32 least significant bits of the timestamp format that is
   specified in Section 5.  If a node is not capable of populating this
   field, it assigns the value 0xFFFFFFFF.  Note that this is a
   legitimate value in the NTP format, valid for approximately 233
   picoseconds in every second.  If the NTP format is used, the analyzer
   has to correlate several packets in order to detect the error
   indication.

4.4.2.5.  Transit Delay

   The "transit delay" field is a 4-octet unsigned integer in the range
   0 to 2^31-1.  It is the time in nanoseconds the packet spent in the
   transit node.  This can serve as an indication of the queuing delay
   at the node.  If the transit delay exceeds 2^31-1 nanoseconds, then
   the top bit 'O' is set to indicate overflow and value set to
   0x80000000.  When this field is part of the data field but a node
   populating the field is not able to fill it, the field position in
   the field MUST be filled with value 0xFFFFFFFF to mean not populated.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |O|                     transit delay                           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

4.4.2.6.  Namespace-Specific Data

   The "namespace-specific data" field is a 4-octet field that can be
   used by the node to add IOAM-Namespace-specific data.  This
   represents a "free-format" 4-octet bit field with its semantics
   defined in the context of a specific IOAM-Namespace.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    namespace-specific data                    |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

4.4.2.7.  Queue Depth

   The "queue depth" field is a 4-octet unsigned integer field.  This
   field indicates the current length of the egress interface queue of
   the interface from where the packet is forwarded out.  The queue
   depth is expressed as the current amount of memory buffers used by
   the queue (a packet could consume one or more memory buffers,
   depending on its size).

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       queue depth                             |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

4.4.2.8.  Checksum Complement

   The "Checksum Complement" field is a 4-octet node data that contains
   the Checksum Complement value.  The Checksum Complement is useful
   when IOAM is transported over encapsulations that make use of a UDP
   transport, such as VXLAN-GPE or Geneve.  Without the Checksum
   Complement, nodes adding IOAM node data update the UDP Checksum field
   following the recommendation of the encapsulation protocols.  When
   the Checksum Complement is present, an IOAM encapsulating node or
   IOAM transit node adding node data MUST carry out one of the
   following two alternatives in order to maintain the correctness of
   the UDP Checksum value:

   1.  recompute the UDP Checksum field or

   2.  use the Checksum Complement to make a checksum-neutral update in
       the UDP payload; the Checksum Complement is assigned a value that
       complements the rest of the node data fields that were added by
       the current node, causing the existing UDP Checksum field to
       remain correct.

   IOAM decapsulating nodes MUST recompute the UDP Checksum field, since
   they do not know whether previous hops modified the UDP Checksum
   field or the Checksum Complement field.

   Checksum Complement fields are used in a similar manner in [RFC7820]
   and [RFC7821].

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                   Checksum Complement                         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

4.4.2.9.  Hop_Lim and node_id Wide

   The "Hop_Lim and node_id wide" field is an 8-octet field defined as
   follows:

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   Hop_Lim     |              node_id                          ~
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   ~                         node_id (contd)                       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Hop_Lim:
      1-octet unsigned integer.  See Section 4.4.2.1 for the definition
      of the field.

   node_id:
      7-octet unsigned integer.  It is a node identifier field to
      uniquely identify a node within the IOAM-Namespace and associated
      IOAM-Domain.  The procedure to allocate, manage, and map the
      node_ids is beyond the scope of this document.

4.4.2.10.  ingress_if_id and egress_if_id Wide

   The "ingress_if_id and egress_if_id wide" field is an 8-octet field,
   which is defined as follows:

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       ingress_if_id                           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       egress_if_id                            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   ingress_if_id:
      4-octet unsigned integer.  It is an interface identifier to record
      the ingress interface the packet was received on.

   egress_if_id:
      4-octet unsigned integer.  It is an interface identifier to record
      the egress interface the packet is forwarded out of.

4.4.2.11.  Namespace-Specific Data Wide

   The "namespace-specific data wide" field is an 8-octet field that can
   be used by the node to add IOAM-Namespace-specific data.  This
   represents a "free-format" 8-octet bit field with its semantics
   defined in the context of a specific IOAM-Namespace.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    namespace-specific data                    ~
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   ~                namespace-specific data (contd)                |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

4.4.2.12.  Buffer Occupancy

   The "buffer occupancy" field is a 4-octet unsigned integer field.
   This field indicates the current status of the occupancy of the
   common buffer pool used by a set of queues.  The units of this field
   are implementation specific.  Hence, the units are interpreted within
   the context of an IOAM-Namespace and/or node identifier if used.  The
   authors acknowledge that, in some operational cases, there is a need
   for the units to be consistent across a packet path through the
   network; hence, it is recommended for implementations to use standard
   units, such as bytes.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       buffer occupancy                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

4.4.2.13.  Opaque State Snapshot

   The "Opaque State Snapshot" field is a variable-length field and
   follows the fixed-length IOAM-Data-Fields defined above.  It allows
   the network element to store an arbitrary state in the node data
   field without a predefined schema.  The schema is to be defined
   within the context of an IOAM-Namespace.  The schema needs to be made
   known to the analyzer by some out-of-band mechanism.  The
   specification of this mechanism is beyond the scope of this document.
   A 24-bit "Schema ID" field, interpreted within the context of an
   IOAM-Namespace, indicates which particular schema is used and has to
   be configured on the network element by the operator.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   Length      |                     Schema ID                 |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                                                               |
   |                        Opaque data                            |
   ~                                                               ~
   .                                                               .
   .                                                               .
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Length:
      1-octet unsigned integer.  It is the length in multiples of 4
      octets of the Opaque data field that follows Schema ID.

   Schema ID:
      3-octet unsigned integer identifying the schema of Opaque data.

   Opaque data:
      Variable-length field.  This field is interpreted as specified by
      the schema identified by the Schema ID.

   When this field is part of the data field, but a node populating the
   field has no opaque state data to report, the Length MUST be set to 0
   and the Schema ID MUST be set to 0xFFFFFF to mean no schema.

4.4.3.  Examples of IOAM Node Data

   The format used for the entries in a packet's "node data list" array
   can vary from packet to packet and deployment to deployment.  Some
   deployments might only be interested in recording the node
   identifiers, whereas others might be interested in recording node
   identifiers and timestamps.  This section provides example entries of
   the "node data list" array.

   0xD40000:  If the IOAM Trace-Type is 0xD40000
      (0b110101000000000000000000), then the format of node data is:

       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
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   Hop_Lim     |              node_id                          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |     ingress_if_id             |         egress_if_id          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                     timestamp fraction                        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                    namespace-specific data                    |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   0xC00000:  If the IOAM Trace-Type is 0xC00000
      (0b110000000000000000000000), then the format is:

       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
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   Hop_Lim     |              node_id                          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |     ingress_if_id             |         egress_if_id          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   0x900000:  If the IOAM Trace-Type is 0x900000
      (0b100100000000000000000000), then the format is:

       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
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   Hop_Lim     |              node_id                          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                   timestamp fraction                          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   0x840000:  If the IOAM Trace-Type is 0x840000
      (0b100001000000000000000000), then the format is:

       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
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   Hop_Lim     |              node_id                          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                    namespace-specific data                    |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   0x940000:  If the IOAM Trace-Type is 0x940000
      (0b100101000000000000000000), then the format is:

       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
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   Hop_Lim     |              node_id                          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                    timestamp fraction                         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                    namespace-specific data                    |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   0x308002:  If the IOAM Trace-Type is 0x308002
      (0b001100001000000000000010), then the format is:

       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
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      timestamp seconds                        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                    timestamp fraction                         |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   Hop_Lim     |              node_id                          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         node_id(contd)                        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   Length      |                     Schema ID                 |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                                                               |
      |                                                               |
      |                        Opaque data                            |
      ~                                                               ~
      .                                                               .
      .                                                               .
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

4.5.  IOAM Proof of Transit Option-Type

   The IOAM Proof of Transit Option-Type is used to support path or
   service function chain [RFC7665] verification use cases, i.e., prove
   that traffic transited a defined path.  While the details on how the
   IOAM data for the Proof of Transit Option-Type is processed at IOAM
   encapsulating, decapsulating, and transit nodes are outside the scope
   of the document, Proof of Transit approaches share the need to
   uniquely identify a packet, as well as iteratively operate on a set
   of information that is handed from node to node.  Correspondingly,
   two pieces of information are added as IOAM-Data-Fields to the
   packet:

   PktID:
      unique identifier for the packet

   Cumulative:
      information that is handed from node to node and updated by every
      node according to a verification algorithm

   The IOAM Proof of Transit Option-Type consist of a fixed-size "IOAM
   Proof of Transit Option header" and "IOAM Proof of Transit Option
   data fields":

   IOAM Proof of Transit Option header:


    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |       Namespace-ID            |IOAM POT-Type  | IOAM POT flags|
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   IOAM Proof of Transit Option-Type IOAM-Data-Fields MUST be aligned by
   4 octets:

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |       POT Option data field determined by IOAM POT-Type       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Namespace-ID:
      16-bit identifier of an IOAM-Namespace.  The Namespace-ID value of
      0x0000 is defined as the "Default-Namespace-ID" (see Section 4.3)
      and MUST be known to all the nodes implementing IOAM.  For any
      other Namespace-ID value that does not match any Namespace-ID the
      node is configured to operate on, the node MUST NOT change the
      contents of the IOAM-Data-Fields.

   IOAM POT-Type:
      8-bit identifier of a particular POT variant that specifies the
      POT data that is included.  This document defines IOAM POT-Type 0:

      0:  POT data is a 16-octet field to carry data associated to POT
         procedures.

      If a node receives an IOAM POT-Type value that it does not
      understand, the node MUST NOT change, add to, or remove the
      contents of the IOAM-Data-Fields.

   IOAM POT flags:
      8 bits.  This document does not define any flags.  Bits 0-7 are
      available for assignment (see Section 7.5).  Bits that have not
      been assigned MUST be set to zero upon transmission and be ignored
      upon receipt.

   POT Option data:
      Variable-length field.  The type of which is determined by the
      IOAM POT-Type.

4.5.1.  IOAM Proof of Transit Type 0

   IOAM Proof of Transit Option of IOAM POT-Type 0:


    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |        Namespace-ID           |IOAM POT-Type=0|R R R R R R R R|
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+<-+
   |                        PktID                                  |  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+  P
   |                        PktID (contd)                          |  O
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+  T
   |                        Cumulative                             |  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+  |
   |                        Cumulative (contd)                     |  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+<-+

   Namespace-ID:
      16-bit identifier of an IOAM-Namespace (see Section 4.3 above).

   IOAM POT-Type:
      8-bit identifier of a particular POT variant that specifies the
      POT data that is included (see Section 4.5 above).  For this case
      here, IOAM POT-Type is set to the value 0.

   Bit 0-7:
      Undefined (see Section 4.5 above).

   PktID:
      64-bit packet identifier.

   Cumulative:
      64-bit Cumulative that is updated at specific nodes by processing
      per packet PktID field and configured parameters.

      |  Note: Larger or smaller sizes of "PktID" and "Cumulative" data
      |  are feasible and could be required for certain deployments,
      |  e.g., in case of space constraints in the encapsulation
      |  protocols used.  Future documents could introduce different
      |  sizes of data for "Proof of Transit".

4.6.  IOAM Edge-to-Edge Option-Type

   The IOAM Edge-to-Edge Option-Type carries data that is added by the
   IOAM encapsulating node and interpreted by the IOAM decapsulating
   node.  The IOAM transit nodes MAY process the data but MUST NOT
   modify it.

   The IOAM Edge-to-Edge Option-Type consist of a fixed-size "IOAM Edge-
   to-Edge Option-Type header" and "IOAM Edge-to-Edge Option-Type data
   fields":

   IOAM Edge-to-Edge Option-Type header:


    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |        Namespace-ID           |         IOAM E2E-Type         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   The IOAM Edge-to-Edge Option-Type IOAM-Data-Fields MUST be aligned by
   4 octets:

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |       E2E Option data field determined by IOAM-E2E-Type       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Namespace-ID:
      16-bit identifier of an IOAM-Namespace.  The Namespace-ID value of
      0x0000 is defined as the "Default-Namespace-ID" (see Section 4.3)
      and MUST be known to all the nodes implementing IOAM.  For any
      other Namespace-ID value that does not match any Namespace-ID the
      node is configured to operate on, the node MUST NOT change the
      contents of the IOAM-Data-Fields.

   IOAM-E2E-Type:
      16-bit identifier that specifies which data types are used in the
      E2E Option data.  The IOAM-E2E-Type value is a bit field.  The
      order of packing the E2E Option data field elements follows the
      bit order of the IOAM E2E-Type field as follows:

      Bit 0    Most significant bit.  When set, it indicates the
               presence of a 64-bit sequence number added to a specific
               "packet group" that is used to detect packet loss, packet
               reordering, or packet duplication within the group.  The
               "packet group" is deployment dependent and defined at the
               IOAM encapsulating node, e.g., by n-tuple-based
               classification of packets.  When this bit is set, "Bit 1"
               (for a 32-bit sequence number, see below) MUST be zero.

      Bit 1    When set, it indicates the presence of a 32-bit sequence
               number added to a specific "packet group" that is used to
               detect packet loss, packet reordering, or packet
               duplication within that group.  The "packet group" is
               deployment dependent and defined at the IOAM
               encapsulating node, e.g., by n-tuple-based classification
               of packets.  When this bit is set, "Bit 0" (for a 64-bit
               sequence number, see above) MUST be zero.

      Bit 2    When set, it indicates the presence of timestamp seconds,
               representing the time at which the packet entered the
               IOAM-Domain.  Within the IOAM encapsulating node, the
               time that the timestamp is retrieved can depend on the
               implementation.  Some possibilities are 1) the time at
               which the packet was received by the node, 2) the time at
               which the packet was transmitted by the node, or 3) when
               a tunnel encapsulation is used, the point at which the
               packet is encapsulated into the tunnel.  Each
               implementation has to document when the E2E timestamp
               that is going to be put in the packet is retrieved.  This
               4-octet field has three possible formats, based on either
               PTP (see e.g., [RFC8877]), NTP [RFC5905], or POSIX
               [POSIX].  The three timestamp formats are specified in
               Section 5.  In all three cases, the timestamp seconds
               field contains the 32 most significant bits of the
               timestamp format that is specified in Section 5.  If a
               node is not capable of populating this field, it assigns
               the value 0xFFFFFFFF.  Note that this is a legitimate
               value that is valid for 1 second in approximately 136
               years; the analyzer has to correlate several packets or
               compare the timestamp value to its own time of day in
               order to detect the error indication.

      Bit 3    When set, it indicates the presence of timestamp
               fraction, representing the time at which the packet
               entered the IOAM-Domain.  This 4-octet field has three
               possible formats, based on either PTP (see e.g.,
               [RFC8877]), NTP [RFC5905], or POSIX [POSIX].  The three
               timestamp formats are specified in Section 5.  In all
               three cases, the timestamp fraction field contains the 32
               least significant bits of the timestamp format that is
               specified in Section 5.  If a node is not capable of
               populating this field, it assigns the value 0xFFFFFFFF.
               Note that this is a legitimate value in the NTP format,
               valid for approximately 233 picoseconds in every second.
               If the NTP format is used, the analyzer has to correlate
               several packets in order to detect the error indication.

      Bit 4-15  Undefined.  An IOAM encapsulating node MUST set the
               value of these bits to zero upon transmission and ignore
               them upon receipt.

   E2E Option data:
      Variable-length field.  The type of which is determined by the
      IOAM E2E-Type.

5.  Timestamp Formats

   The IOAM-Data-Fields include a timestamp field that is represented in
   one of three possible timestamp formats.  It is assumed that the
   management plane is responsible for determining which timestamp
   format is used.

5.1.  PTP Truncated Timestamp Format

   The Precision Time Protocol (PTP) uses an 80-bit timestamp format.
   The truncated timestamp format is a 64-bit field, which is the 64
   least significant bits of the 80-bit PTP timestamp.  The PTP
   truncated format is specified in Section 4.3 of [RFC8877], and the
   details are presented below for the sake of completeness.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                            Seconds                            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                          Nanoseconds                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Timestamp field format:
      Seconds:  Specifies the integer portion of the number of seconds
         since the PTP epoch

         Size:  32 bits

         Units:  seconds

      Nanoseconds:  Specifies the fractional portion of the number of
         seconds since the PTP epoch

         Size:  32 bits

         Units:  nanoseconds.  The value of this field is in the range 0
            to (10^9)-1.

   Epoch:
      PTP epoch.  For details, see e.g., [RFC8877].

   Resolution:
      The resolution is 1 nanosecond.

   Wraparound:
      This time format wraps around every 2^32 seconds, which is roughly
      136 years.  The next wraparound will occur in the year 2106.

   Synchronization Aspects:
      It is assumed that the nodes that run this protocol are
      synchronized among themselves.  Nodes MAY be synchronized to a
      global reference time.  Note that if PTP is used for
      synchronization, the timestamp MAY be derived from the PTP-
      synchronized clock, allowing the timestamp to be measured with
      respect to the clock of a PTP Grandmaster clock.

5.2.  NTP 64-Bit Timestamp Format

   The Network Time Protocol (NTP) [RFC5905] timestamp format is 64 bits
   long.  This specification uses the NTP timestamp format that is
   specified in Section 4.2.1 of [RFC8877], and the details are
   presented below for the sake of completeness.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                            Seconds                            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                            Fraction                           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Timestamp field format:
      Seconds:  specifies the integer portion of the number of seconds
         since the NTP epoch

         Size:  32 bits

         Units:  seconds

      Fraction:  specifies the fractional portion of the number of
         seconds since the NTP epoch

         Size:  32 bits

         Units:  the unit is 2^(-32) seconds, which is roughly equal to
            233 picoseconds.

   Epoch:
      NTP epoch.  For details, see [RFC5905].

   Resolution:
      The resolution is 2^(-32) seconds.

   Wraparound:
      This time format wraps around every 2^32 seconds, which is roughly
      136 years.  The next wraparound will occur in the year 2036.

   Synchronization Aspects:
      Nodes that use this timestamp format will typically be
      synchronized to UTC using NTP [RFC5905].  Thus, the timestamp MAY
      be derived from the NTP-synchronized clock, allowing the timestamp
      to be measured with respect to the clock of an NTP server.

5.3.  POSIX-Based Timestamp Format

   This timestamp format is based on the POSIX time format [POSIX].  The
   detailed specification of the timestamp format used in this document
   is presented below.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                            Seconds                            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                          Microseconds                         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Timestamp field format:
      Seconds:  specifies the integer portion of the number of seconds
         since the POSIX epoch

         Size:  32 bits

         Units:  seconds

      Microseconds:  specifies the fractional portion of the number of
         seconds since the POSIX epoch

         Size:  32 bits

         Units:  the unit is microseconds.  The value of this field is
            in the range 0 to (10^6)-1.

   Epoch:
      POSIX epoch.  For details, see [POSIX], Appendix A.4.16.

   Resolution:
      The resolution is 1 microsecond.

   Wraparound:
      This time format wraps around every 2^32 seconds, which is roughly
      136 years.  The next wraparound will occur in the year 2106.

   Synchronization Aspects:
      It is assumed that nodes that use this timestamp format run the
      Linux operating system and hence use the POSIX time.  In some
      cases, nodes MAY be synchronized to UTC using a synchronization
      mechanism that is outside the scope of this document, such as NTP
      [RFC5905].  Thus, the timestamp MAY be derived from the NTP-
      synchronized clock, allowing the timestamp to be measured with
      respect to the clock of an NTP server.

6.  IOAM Data Export

   IOAM nodes collect information for packets traversing a domain that
   supports IOAM.  IOAM decapsulating nodes, as well as IOAM transit
   nodes, can choose to retrieve IOAM information from the packet,
   process the information further, and export the information using
   e.g., IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX).  The mechanisms and
   associated data formats for exporting IOAM data are outside the scope
   of this document.

   A way to perform raw data export of IOAM data using IPFIX is
   discussed in [IPPM-IOAM-RAWEXPORT].

7.  IANA Considerations

   IANA has defined a registry group named "In Situ OAM (IOAM)".

   This group includes the following registries:

      IOAM Option-Type

      IOAM Trace-Type

      IOAM Trace-Flags

      IOAM POT-Type

      IOAM POT-Flags

      IOAM E2E-Type

      IOAM Namespace-ID

   The subsequent subsections detail the registries therein contained.

7.1.  IOAM Option-Type Registry

   This registry defines 128 code points for the IOAM Option-Type field
   for identifying IOAM-Option-Types, as explained in Section 4.  The
   following code points are defined in this document:

   0:  IOAM Pre-allocated Trace Option-Type

   1:  IOAM Incremental Trace Option-Type

   2:  IOAM POT Option-Type

   3:  IOAM E2E Option-Type

   Code points 4-127 are available for assignment via the "IETF Review"
   process, as per [RFC8126].

   New registration requests MUST use the following template:

   Name:  name of the newly registered Option-Type

   Code point:  desired value of the requested code point

   Description:  brief description of the newly registered Option-Type

   Reference:  reference to the document that defines the new Option-
      Type

   The evaluation of a new registration request MUST also include
   checking whether the new IOAM-Option-Type includes an IOAM-Namespace
   field and that the IOAM-Namespace field is the first field in the
   newly defined header of the new Option-Type.

7.2.  IOAM Trace-Type Registry

   This registry defines code points for each bit in the 24-bit IOAM
   Trace-Type field for the Pre-allocated Trace Option-Type and
   Incremental Trace Option-Type defined in Section 4.4.  Bits 0-11 are
   defined in this document in Paragraph 5 of Section 4.4.1:

   Bit 0:  hop_Lim and node_id in short format

   Bit 1:  ingress_if_id and egress_if_id in short format

   Bit 2:  timestamp seconds

   Bit 3:  timestamp fraction

   Bit 4:  transit delay

   Bit 5:  namespace-specific data in short format

   Bit 6:  queue depth

   Bit 7:  checksum complement

   Bit 8:  hop_Lim and node_id in wide format

   Bit 9:  ingress_if_id and egress_if_id in wide format

   Bit 10:  namespace-specific data in wide format

   Bit 11:  buffer occupancy

   Bit 22:  variable-length Opaque State Snapshot

   Bit 23:  reserved

   Bits 12-21 are available for assignment via the "IETF Review"
   process, as per [RFC8126].

   New registration requests MUST use the following template:

   Bit:  desired bit to be allocated in the 24-bit IOAM Trace Option-
      Type field for the Pre-allocated Trace Option-Type and Incremental
      Trace Option-Type

   Description:  brief description of the newly registered bit

   Reference:  reference to the document that defines the new bit

7.3.  IOAM Trace-Flags Registry

   This registry defines code points for each bit in the 4-bit flags for
   the Pre-allocated Trace-Option and Incremental Trace-Option defined
   in Section 4.4.  The meaning of Bit 0 (the most significant bit) for
   trace flags is defined in this document in Paragraph 3 of
   Section 4.4.1:

   Bit 0:  "Overflow" (O-bit)

   Bits 1-3 are available for assignment via the "IETF Review" process,
   as per [RFC8126].

   New registration requests MUST use the following template:

   Bit:  desired bit to be allocated in the 8-bit flags field of the
      Pre-allocated Trace Option-Type and Incremental Trace Option-Type

   Description:  brief description of the newly registered bit

   Reference:  reference to the document that defines the new bit

7.4.  IOAM POT-Type Registry

   This registry defines 256 code points to define the IOAM POT-Type for
   the IOAM Proof of Transit Option (Section 4.5).  The code point value
   0 is defined in this document:

   0:  16-Octet POT data

   Code points 1-255 are available for assignment via the "IETF Review"
   process, as per [RFC8126].

   New registration requests MUST use the following template:

   Name:  name of the newly registered POT-Type

   Code point:  desired value of the requested code point

   Description:  brief description of the newly registered POT-Type

   Reference:  reference to the document that defines the new POT-Type

7.5.  IOAM POT-Flags Registry

   This registry defines code points for each bit in the 8-bit flags for
   the IOAM POT Option-Type defined in Section 4.5.

   Bits 0-7 are available for assignment via the "IETF Review" process,
   as per [RFC8126].

   New registration requests MUST use the following template:

   Bit:  desired bit to be allocated in the 8-bit flags field of the
      IOAM POT Option-Type

   Description:  brief description of the newly registered bit

   Reference:  reference to the document that defines the new bit

7.6.  IOAM E2E-Type Registry

   This registry defines code points for each bit in the 16-bit IOAM
   E2E-Type field for the IOAM E2E Option (Section 4.6).  Bits 0-3 are
   defined in this document:

   Bit 0:  64-bit sequence number

   Bit 1:  32-bit sequence number

   Bit 2:  timestamp seconds

   Bit 3:  timestamp fraction

   Bits 4-15 are available for assignment via the "IETF Review" process,
   as per [RFC8126].

   New registration requests MUST use the following template:

   Bit:  desired bit to be allocated in the 16-bit IOAM E2E-Type field

   Description:  brief description of the newly registered bit

   Reference:  reference to the document that defines the new bit

7.7.  IOAM Namespace-ID Registry

   IANA has set up the "IOAM Namespace-ID" registry that contains 16-bit
   values and follows the template for requests shown below.  The
   meaning of 0x0000 is defined in this document.  IANA has reserved the
   values 0x0001 to 0x7FFF for private use (managed by operators), as
   specified in Section 4.3 of this document.  Registry entries for the
   values 0x8000 to 0xFFFF are to be assigned via the "Expert Review"
   policy, as per [RFC8126].

   Upon receiving a new allocation request, a designated expert will
   perform the following:

   *  Review whether the request is complete, i.e., the registration
      template has been filled in.  The expert will send incomplete
      requests back to the requester.

   *  Check whether the request is neither a duplicate of nor
      conflicting with either an already existing allocation or a
      pending allocation.  In case of duplicates or conflicts, the
      expert will ask the requester to update the allocation request
      accordingly.

   *  Solicit feedback from relevant working groups and communities to
      ensure that the new allocation request has been properly reviewed
      and that rough consensus on the request exists.  At a minimum, the
      expert will solicit feedback from the IPPM Working Group by
      posting the request to the ippm@ietf.org mailing list.  The expert
      will allow for a 3-week review period on the mailing lists.  If
      the feedback received from the relevant working groups and
      communities within the review period indicates rough consensus on
      the request, the expert will approve the request and ask IANA to
      allocate the new Namespace-ID.  In case the expert senses a lack
      of consensus from the feedback received, the expert will ask the
      requester to engage with the corresponding working groups and
      communities to further review and refine the request.

   It is intended that any allocation will be accompanied by a published
   RFC.  In order to allow for the allocation of code points prior to
   the RFC being approved for publication, the designated expert can
   approve allocations once it seems clear that an RFC will be
   published.

   0x0000:  default namespace (known to all IOAM nodes)

   0x0001 - 0x7FFF:  reserved for private use

   0x8000 - 0xFFFF:  unassigned

   New registration requests MUST use the following template:

   Name:  name of the newly registered Namespace-ID

   Code point:  desired value of the requested Namespace-ID

   Description:  brief description of the newly registered Namespace-ID

   Reference:  reference to the document that defines the new Namespace-
      ID

   Status of the registration:  Status can be either "permanent" or
      "provisional".  Namespace-ID registrations following a successful
      expert review will have the status "provisional".  Once the RFC
      that defines the new Namespace-ID is published, the status is
      changed to "permanent".

8.  Management and Deployment Considerations

   This document defines the structure and use of IOAM-Data-Fields.
   This document does not define the encapsulation of IOAM-Data-Fields
   into different protocols.  Management and deployment aspects for IOAM
   have to be considered within the context of the protocol IOAM-Data-
   Fields are encapsulated into and, as such, are out of scope for this
   document.  For a discussion of IOAM deployment, please also refer to
   [IPPM-IOAM-DEPLOYMENT], which outlines a framework for IOAM
   deployment and provides best current practices.

9.  Security Considerations

   As discussed in [RFC7276], a successful attack on an OAM protocol in
   general, and specifically on IOAM, can prevent the detection of
   failures or anomalies or create a false illusion of nonexistent ones.
   In particular, these threats are applicable by compromising the
   integrity of IOAM data, either by maliciously modifying IOAM options
   in transit or by injecting packets with maliciously generated IOAM
   options.  All nodes in the path of an IOAM-carrying packet can
   perform such an attack.

   The Proof of Transit Option-Type (see Section 4.5) is used for
   verifying the path of data packets, i.e., proving that packets
   transited through a defined set of nodes.

   In case an attacker gains access to several nodes in a network and
   would be able to change the system software of these nodes, IOAM-
   Data-Fields could be misused and repurposed for a use different from
   what is specified in this document.  One type of misuse is the
   implementation of a covert channel between network nodes.

   From a confidentiality perspective, although IOAM options are not
   expected to contain user data, they can be used for network
   reconnaissance, allowing attackers to collect information about
   network paths, performance, queue states, buffer occupancy, etc.
   Moreover, if IOAM data leaks from the IOAM-Domain, it could enable
   reconnaissance beyond the scope of the IOAM-Domain.  One possible
   application of such reconnaissance is to gauge the effectiveness of
   an ongoing attack, e.g., if buffers and queues are overflowing.

   IOAM can be used as a means for implementing Denial-of-Service (DoS)
   attacks or for amplifying them.  For example, a malicious attacker
   can add an IOAM header to packets in order to consume the resources
   of network devices that take part in IOAM or entities that receive,
   collect, or analyze the IOAM data.  Another example is a packet
   length attack in which an attacker pushes headers associated with
   IOAM-Option-Types into data packets, causing these packets to be
   increased beyond the MTU size, resulting in fragmentation or in
   packet drops.  In case POT is used, an attacker could corrupt the POT
   data fields in the packet, resulting in a verification failure of the
   POT data, even if the packet followed the correct path.

   Since IOAM options can include timestamps, if network devices use
   synchronization protocols, then any attack on the time protocol
   [RFC7384] can compromise the integrity of the timestamp-related data
   fields.

   At the management plane, attacks can be set up by misconfiguring or
   by maliciously configuring IOAM-enabled nodes in a way that enables
   other attacks.  IOAM configuration should only be managed by
   authorized processes or users.

   IETF protocols require features to ensure their security.  While
   IOAM-Data-Fields don't represent a protocol by themselves, the IOAM-
   Data-Fields add to the protocol that the IOAM-Data-Fields are
   encapsulated into.  Any specification that defines how IOAM-Data-
   Fields carried in an encapsulating protocol MUST provide for a
   mechanism for cryptographic integrity protection of the IOAM-Data-
   Fields.  Cryptographic integrity protection could be achieved through
   a mechanism of the encapsulating protocol, or it could incorporate
   the mechanisms specified in [IPPM-IOAM-DATA-INTEGRITY].

   The current document does not define a specific IOAM encapsulation.
   It has to be noted that some IOAM encapsulation types can introduce
   specific security considerations.  A specification that defines an
   IOAM encapsulation is expected to address the respective
   encapsulation-specific security considerations.

   Notably, IOAM is expected to be deployed in limited domains, thus
   confining the potential attack vectors to within the limited domain.
   A limited administrative domain provides the operator with the means
   to select, monitor, and control the access of all the network
   devices, making these devices trusted by the operator.  Indeed, in
   order to limit the scope of threats mentioned above to within the
   current limited domain, the network operator is expected to enforce
   policies that prevent IOAM traffic from leaking outside of the IOAM-
   Domain and prevent IOAM data from outside the domain to be processed
   and used within the domain.

   This document does not define the data contents of custom fields,
   like "Opaque State Snapshot" and "namespace-specific data" IOAM-Data-
   Fields.  These custom data fields will have security considerations
   corresponding to their defined data contents that need to be
   described where those formats are defined.

   IOAM deployments that leverage both IOAM Trace Option-Types, i.e.,
   the Pre-allocated Trace Option-Type and Incremental Trace Option-
   Type, can suffer from incomplete visibility if the information
   gathered via the two Trace Option-Types is not correlated and
   aggregated appropriately.  If IOAM transit nodes leverage the IOAM-
   Data-Fields in the packet for further actions or insights, then IOAM
   transit nodes that only support one IOAM Trace Option-Type in an IOAM
   deployment that leverages both Trace Option-Types have limited
   visibility and thus can draw inappropriate conclusions or take wrong
   actions.

   The security considerations of a system that deploys IOAM, much like
   any system, has to be reviewed on a per-deployment-scenario basis
   based on a systems-specific threat analysis, which can lead to
   specific security solutions that are beyond the scope of the current
   document.  Specifically, in an IOAM deployment that is not confined
   to a single LAN but spans multiple inter-connected sites (for
   example, using an overlay network), the inter-site links can be
   secured (e.g., by IPsec) in order to avoid external threats.

   IOAM deployment considerations, including approaches to mitigate the
   above discussed threads and potential attacks, are outside the scope
   of this document.  IOAM deployment considerations are discussed in
   [IPPM-IOAM-DEPLOYMENT].

10.  References

10.1.  Normative References

   [POSIX]    IEEE, "IEEE/Open Group 1003.1-2017 - IEEE Standard for
              Information Technology--Portable Operating System
              Interface (POSIX(TM)) Base Specifications, Issue 7", IEEE
              Std 1003.1-2017, January 2018,
              <https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/1003.1/7101/>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC5905]  Mills, D., Martin, J., Ed., Burbank, J., and W. Kasch,
              "Network Time Protocol Version 4: Protocol and Algorithms
              Specification", RFC 5905, DOI 10.17487/RFC5905, June 2010,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5905>.

   [RFC8126]  Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
              Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
              RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

10.2.  Informative References

   [IPPM-IOAM-DATA-INTEGRITY]
              Brockners, F., Bhandari, S., Mizrahi, T., and J. Iurman,
              "Integrity of In-situ OAM Data Fields", Work in Progress,
              Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-ippm-ioam-data-integrity-01, 2
              March 2022, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-
              ietf-ippm-ioam-data-integrity-01>.

   [IPPM-IOAM-DEPLOYMENT]
              Brockners, F., Bhandari, S., Bernier, D., and T. Mizrahi,
              "In-situ OAM Deployment", Work in Progress, Internet-
              Draft, draft-ietf-ippm-ioam-deployment-01, 11 April 2022,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-ippm-
              ioam-deployment-01>.

   [IPPM-IOAM-RAWEXPORT]
              Spiegel, M., Brockners, F., Bhandari, S., and R.
              Sivakolundu, "In-situ OAM raw data export with IPFIX",
              Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-spiegel-ippm-ioam-
              rawexport-06, 21 February 2022,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-spiegel-ippm-
              ioam-rawexport-06>.

   [IPV6-RECORD-ROUTE]
              Kitamura, H., "Record Route for IPv6 (RR6) Hop-by-Hop
              Option Extension", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
              draft-kitamura-ipv6-record-route-00, 17 November 2000,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-kitamura-
              ipv6-record-route-00>.

   [NVO3-VXLAN-GPE]
              Maino, F., Ed., Kreeger, L., Ed., and U. Elzur, Ed.,
              "Generic Protocol Extension for VXLAN (VXLAN-GPE)", Work
              in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-nvo3-vxlan-gpe-12,
              22 September 2021, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-ietf-nvo3-vxlan-gpe-12>.

   [RFC7276]  Mizrahi, T., Sprecher, N., Bellagamba, E., and Y.
              Weingarten, "An Overview of Operations, Administration,
              and Maintenance (OAM) Tools", RFC 7276,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7276, June 2014,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7276>.

   [RFC7384]  Mizrahi, T., "Security Requirements of Time Protocols in
              Packet Switched Networks", RFC 7384, DOI 10.17487/RFC7384,
              October 2014, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7384>.

   [RFC7665]  Halpern, J., Ed. and C. Pignataro, Ed., "Service Function
              Chaining (SFC) Architecture", RFC 7665,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7665, October 2015,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7665>.

   [RFC7799]  Morton, A., "Active and Passive Metrics and Methods (with
              Hybrid Types In-Between)", RFC 7799, DOI 10.17487/RFC7799,
              May 2016, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7799>.

   [RFC7820]  Mizrahi, T., "UDP Checksum Complement in the One-Way
              Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP) and Two-Way Active
              Measurement Protocol (TWAMP)", RFC 7820,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7820, March 2016,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7820>.

   [RFC7821]  Mizrahi, T., "UDP Checksum Complement in the Network Time
              Protocol (NTP)", RFC 7821, DOI 10.17487/RFC7821, March
              2016, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7821>.

   [RFC8300]  Quinn, P., Ed., Elzur, U., Ed., and C. Pignataro, Ed.,
              "Network Service Header (NSH)", RFC 8300,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8300, January 2018,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8300>.

   [RFC8799]  Carpenter, B. and B. Liu, "Limited Domains and Internet
              Protocols", RFC 8799, DOI 10.17487/RFC8799, July 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8799>.

   [RFC8877]  Mizrahi, T., Fabini, J., and A. Morton, "Guidelines for
              Defining Packet Timestamps", RFC 8877,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8877, September 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8877>.

   [RFC8926]  Gross, J., Ed., Ganga, I., Ed., and T. Sridhar, Ed.,
              "Geneve: Generic Network Virtualization Encapsulation",
              RFC 8926, DOI 10.17487/RFC8926, November 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8926>.

Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank Éric Vyncke, Nalini Elkins, Srihari
   Raghavan, Ranganathan T S, Karthik Babu Harichandra Babu, Akshaya
   Nadahalli, LJ Wobker, Erik Nordmark, Vengada Prasad Govindan, Andrew
   Yourtchenko, Aviv Kfir, Tianran Zhou, Zhenbin (Robin), and Greg
   Mirsky for the comments and advice.

   This document leverages and builds on top of several concepts
   described in [IPV6-RECORD-ROUTE].  The authors would like to
   acknowledge the work done by the author Hiroshi Kitamura and people
   involved in writing it.

   The authors would like to gracefully acknowledge useful review and
   insightful comments received from Joe Clarke, Al Morton, Tom Herbert,
   Carlos J. Bernardos, Haoyu Song, Mickey Spiegel, Roman Danyliw,
   Benjamin Kaduk, Murray S. Kucherawy, Ian Swett, Martin Duke,
   Francesca Palombini, Lars Eggert, Alvaro Retana, Erik Kline, Robert
   Wilton, Zaheduzzaman Sarker, Dan Romascanu, and Barak Gafni.

Contributors

   This document was the collective effort of several authors.  The text
   and content were contributed by the editors and the coauthors listed
   below.

   Carlos Pignataro
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   Research Triangle Park
   7200-11 Kit Creek Road
   NC 27709
   United States of America
   Email: cpignata@cisco.com


   Mickey Spiegel
   Barefoot Networks, an Intel company
   101 Innovation Drive
   San Jose, CA 95134-1941
   United States of America
   Email: mickey.spiegel@intel.com


   Barak Gafni
   Nvidia
   Suite 100
   350 Oakmead Parkway
   Sunnyvale, CA 94085
   United States of America
   Email: gbarak@nvidia.com


   Jennifer Lemon
   Broadcom
   270 Innovation Drive
   San Jose, CA 95134
   United States of America
   Email: jennifer.lemon@broadcom.com


   Hannes Gredler
   RtBrick Inc.
   Email: hannes@rtbrick.com


   John Leddy
   United States of America
   Email: john@leddy.net


   Stephen Youell
   JP Morgan Chase
   25 Bank Street
   London
   E14 5JP
   United Kingdom
   Email: stephen.youell@jpmorgan.com


   David Mozes
   Email: mosesster@gmail.com


   Petr Lapukhov
   Facebook
   1 Hacker Way
   Menlo Park, CA 94025
   United States of America
   Email: petr@fb.com


   Remy Chang
   Barefoot Networks, an Intel company
   101 Innovation Drive
   San Jose, CA 95134-1941
   United States of America
   Email: remy.chang@intel.com


   Daniel Bernier
   Bell Canada
   Canada
   Email: daniel.bernier@bell.ca


Authors' Addresses

   Frank Brockners (editor)
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   3rd Floor
   Nordhein-Westfalen
   Hansaallee 249
   40549 Duesseldorf
   Germany
   Email: fbrockne@cisco.com


   Shwetha Bhandari (editor)
   Thoughtspot
   3rd Floor
   Indiqube Orion
   Garden Layout
   HSR Layout
   24th Main Rd
   Bangalore 560 102
   Karnataka
   India
   Email: shwetha.bhandari@thoughtspot.com