Subject: [nvo3] Virtual Network - what's an instance?

From: Eric Gray <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 19:06:40 +0000

Folks,

                Some time back, there was a tangential discussion about the
definition and usage of "virtual network instance", "instance of a virtual
network" and "VNI" - where a few folks pointed out that the usage is
inconsistent in the NVO3 problem statement and framework drafts.

                We had an off-line discussion between folks that have been
active participants in one, the other, or both of these drafts with the
aim of converging on a reasonable approach to resolve the issue, given
where the two drafts are (in their life-cycles) at this point.

                What we concluded was that the usage intended in the problem
statement draft was based on the "common English" interpretation of
the phrase and was not intended to mean the same thing as the usage
of the phrase defined for the acronym "VNI" in the framework draft.

                We looked in detail at all of the uses of the phrase in the problem
statement draft and concluded that the best approach (particularly given
the point at which the problem statement draft is) is to provide an explicit
clarification of the usage in the problem statement draft.

                Specifically, the decision was to add the following text to the PS
draft's terminology section:

      "This document uses the phrase "virtual network instance" with its ordinary
        meaning to represent an instance of a virtual network.  Its usage may differ
        from the VNI acronym defined in the framework document [I-D.ietf-nvo3-framework].
       The VNI acronym is not used in this document."

                The wording of this text was arrived at after several iterations
and the belief is that this text addresses all of the concerns of the folks
involved in the broader discussion.  It also decouples the usage in the
PS draft from potential changes in definition of VNI in the framework
draft.

--
Eric