RFC 3334 (rfc3334) - Page 3 of 44
Policy-Based Accounting
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 3334 Policy-Based Accounting October 2002
Service providers have various options for service differentiation,
charging schemes and the provisioning of accounting services. The
applied charging schemes for the provided services are one
significant feature used by providers to distinguish themselves from
competitors. Therefore, providers use different charging schemes and
may change the schemes in accordance with their business plan.
Providers can also offer different accounting services (e.g.
standard, comprehensive, etc.) in order to allow customers/users to
choose one scheme that meets the customers/users needs. Furthermore,
it may be advantageous for a provider to outsource accounting
functionality to a third party. Users introduce various traffic
profiles and may have individual preferences regarding accounting
services (like itemized invoices, accounting indications, spending
limits etc.).
One further challenge for the configuration of accounting services
are heterogeneous metering and accounting infrastructures within
provider domains. Also, the usage of different accounting and
metering solutions used in different provider networks complicates
the sharing of configuration parameters (e.g. in roaming scenarios).
The configuration and dynamic adaptation of the accounting process to
the business model and specific user demands requires a flexible
configurable accounting infrastructure. The utilization of
standardized policies for the expression of conditions and related
configuration actions also allows the configuration of heterogeneous
infrastructures. For this purpose we propose to use accounting
policies to configure the accounting infrastructure and use the
Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) architecture to
exchange and to deploy these policies.
1.2 Document Scope
This document describes the structure and usage of accounting
policies. It shows how the characteristics of the provider network
influence the requirements for accounting. The relations between the
different roles that are involved in the accounting process and the
required building blocks for an accounting architecture are
introduced. This document describes an architecture and mechanisms
to configure the accounting service. It proposes to use the AAA
protocol for the exchange of accounting configuration information
expressed in policies. It does not propose a specific protocol for
the accounting configuration itself. The configuration itself can be
done by existing protocols (e.g. Common Open Policy Service Protocol
for Support of Policy Provisioning - COPS-PR, Simple Network
Management Protocol - SNMP, etc.). Furthermore, it is shown how
different accounting services can be provided in intra- and inter-
domain scenarios. Examples are given for the usage of accounting
Zseby, et. al. Experimental