Subject: WG Review: Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (alto)

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2021 11:39:13 -0700

The Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (alto) WG in the Transport Area of
the IETF is undergoing rechartering. The IESG has not made any determination
yet. The following draft charter was submitted, and is provided for
informational purposes only. Please send your comments to the IESG mailing
list ([email-masked]) by 2021-08-23.

Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (alto)
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Current status: Active WG

Chairs:
  Jan Seedorf <[email-masked]>
  Qin Wu <[email-masked]>

Assigned Area Director:
  Martin Duke <[email-masked]>

Transport Area Directors:
  Martin Duke <[email-masked]>
  Zaheduzzaman Sarker <[email-masked]>

Mailing list:
  Address: [email-masked]
  To subscribe: https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/alto
  Archive: https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/alto/

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

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

The ALTO working group was established in 2008 to devise a request/response
protocol to allow a host to choose optimal paths to resources from a server
with more knowledge of the network. The working group developed an HTTP-based
protocol, and reported proof-of-concepts of ALTO based solutions supporting
applications such as content distribution networks (CDN).

To support current and future deployments of ALTO, the working group is now
chartered for the following activities:

o Collect implementation deployment and experience. It is hoped that ALTO
practitioners will report their experiences on the mailing list, and the
working group will track implementation and deployment reports on a wiki or
in an Internet-Draft not expected to be published as an RFC. This will
motivate further work to extend and improve ALTO.

o Perform protocol maintenance for the existing published protocol.

o Develop operational support tools for ALTO. Based on experience from
deployments, the advice in RFC 7971, and the latest opinions and techniques
from the Operations and Management Area, the working group will develop tools
to configure, operate, and manage the ALTO protocol and networks that use
ALTO. This may include YANG models and OAM mechanisms, in consultation with
the OPS area and the IPPM WG. The working group may also update RFC 7971 in
the light of new experience and protocol features that were added to ALTO
after that RFC was published.

o Support for modern transport protocols. ALTO only uses the capabilities of
HTTP version 1. Since then, the IETF has developed HTTP/2 and HTTP/3. The
working group will develop any necessary protocol extensions and guidance to
support the use of ALTO over HTTP/2 and HTTP/3.

o Future use cases. The working group will provide a forum to discuss
possible future use cases. The objective of this discussion will be to
determine a small set of use cases that have strong support and a realistic
chance of implementation and deployment. The working group will not develop
protocol extensions for these use cases until it has been re-chartered
specifically for that purpose.

At the conclusion of the OAM and HTTP2/3 deliverables, plus completion of any
adopted drafts emerging from the other work items, the working group will
close or recharter.

Milestones:

  Mar 2022 - Support Document for ALTO over HTTP/2 and /3

  Aug 2022 - Wiki or internet-draft on ALTO deployments and challenges

  Aug 2022 - ALTO YANG Model