RFC 2721 (rfc2721) - Page 2 of 10
RTFM: Applicability Statement
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
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