RFC 2721 (rfc2721) - Page 2 of 10

RTFM: Applicability Statement

RFC 2721             RTFM: Applicability Statement          October 1999


1  The RTFM Documents

   The RTFM Traffic Measurement System has been developed by the
   Realtime Traffic Flow Measurement Working Group.  It is described in
   six other documents, as follows:

   [ACT-BKG] Internet Accounting: Background             (Informational)

      Sets out the requirements for a usage reporting system for network
      traffic.  Sketches out the RTFM Architecture (meters, meter
      readers and managers) allowing for multiple meters and meter
      readers, with asynchronous reading from the meters.  Proposes
      methods of classifying traffic flows, the need for flows to be
      bi-directional (with separate sets of counters for each direction)
      and the need for each packet to be counted in a single flow (the '
      count in one bucket' principle).

   [RTFM-ARC] RTFM Architecture                          (Informational)

      Defines the RTFM Architecture, giving descriptions of each
      component.  Explains how traffic flows are viewed as logical
      entities described in terms of their address-attribute values, so
      that each is defined by the attributes of its end-points.  Gives a
      detailed description of the RTFM traffic meter, with full details
      of how flows are stored in the meter's flow table, and how packets
      are matched in accordance with rules stored in a ruleset.

   [RTFM-MIB] RTFM Meter MIB                         (Proposed Standard)

      Describes the SNMP Management Information Base for an RTFM meter,
      including its flow table, rule table (storing the meter's
      rulesets) and the control tables used for managing a meter and
      reading flow data from it.

   [RTFM-SRL] SRL: A Language for Describing Traffic     (Informational)
              Flows and Specifying Actions for Flow Groups

      An RTFM ruleset is an array of rules, used by the meter to decide
      which flows are of interest, which end-point is the flow source,
      and how much detail (i.e. what attribute values) must be saved for
      each flow.  SRL is a high-level language providing a clear,
      logical way to write rulesets.  It should also be useful for other
      applications which select flows and perform actions upon them,
      e.g. packet-marking gateways, RSVP policy agents, etc.







Brownlee                     Informational