RFC 2170 (rfc2170) - Page 2 of 10

Application REQuested IP over ATM (AREQUIPA)

RFC 2170                        AREQUIPA                       July 1997


   We discuss the implementation of Arequipa for hosts running IPv4 and
   IPv6. As an illustration, we also discuss how World-Wide-Web
   applications can use Arequipa to deliver documents with a guaranteed
   quality of service.

   In particular we show how

     - Arequipa can be implemented in IPv4 by slightly modifying the
     - Arequipa can be implemented in IPv6[3] by the appropriate use of
       flow labels and the extension of the neighbour cache,
     - Arequipa can be used in the Web by adding extra information in
       the headers of HTTP requests and responses.

   Finally, we address safety and security implications.

1. Introduction

   QoS guarantees are important for delivery of multi-media data and
   commercial services on the Internet. When two applications on
   machines running IP over ATM need to transfer data, all the necessary
   gears to guarantee QoS can be found in the ATM layer.  We consider
   the case where it is desired to use end-to-end ATM connections
   between applications residing on ATM hosts that have end-to-end ATM
   connectivity.

   Opening direct ATM connections between two applications is possible,
   but then the already available transport protocols, like TCP, can not
   be reused.

   This is why we propose Application REQuested IP over ATM (AREQUIPA).
   Arequipa allows applications to request that two machines be
   connected by a direct ATM connection with given QoS at the link
   level. Arequipa makes sure that only data from the applications that
   requested the connection actually goes through that connection. After
   setup of the Arequipa connection, the applications can use the
   standard IP protocol suite to exchange data.

2. API semantics

   We now define a semantical API for Arequipa. Note that an actual API
   may perform additional functions (eg.  mapping of a given service
   specification to ATM traffic descriptors)

   We define the three new API functions for the TCP/IP stack:

   Arequipa_preset (socket_descriptor, destination IP address,
                    destination protid/port, destination ATM Address,
                    ATM service and QoS parameters)



Almesberger, et. al.         Informational