Accounting: List of High level requirements - my take ...

[Abhi Deshmukh <Abhi.Deshmukh@apogeenet.com>]

The following is an attempt to list some high level requirements. 
Please feel free to dis-agree. 
Hopefully, this provides a starting point for the requirements document.

A few comments on the existing requirements document
(draft-gilletti-cdnp-aaa-reqs-00.txt):
I think references to payment models, compensation/pricing and settlement
may be considered for deletion. We may want to state that these are not
being considered and state the reason for not considering them. The
Transaction Model section is too abstract and needs to be simplified for
read-ability.

Anyways, here goes the list.

0. Allow for end-to-end accounting for work done by or on behalf of a peered
CDN. 
For example, this should allow accounting for 
	(a) Requests that were made by a peering CDN to the peered CDN.
	(b) Requests that were satisfied by the peered CDN.
	(c) Requests that were not satisfied by the peered CDN.
	(d) The QoS or SLA related information about requests served.
	(e) Others (I am sure there are many I have missed)
I strongly that believe that CDN peering scenarios would enable the above
list to be more accurate.
	
1. Efficient, Secure transfer of high volume accounting information between
CPGs
An Efficient transfer framework would minimize bandwidth usage and allow a
high rate of record transfer. Security issues should be addressed by any
transfer mechanism. This may include authentication by end points (sender
and receiver), potential encryption of usage records etc. 

2. Re-use AAA framework where-ever it makes sense. 
Validate the work being done as part of the AAA WG. See if some or all of
the work being done is applicable. Transport (if it is validated to be
suitable for peering CDNs) may be available for free. Consider suitability
of Diameter protocol or extensions to it for transport. Also consider work
done in other forums like IPDR, etc. 

3. No reference to payment models, settlement issues, intra-cdn accounting
issues.
The above issues may not be considered.

5. Define interfaces between accounting CPGs, etc.
Identify and define interfaces between Accounting CPG and other components
like the peered accounting CPG, external billing and origin billing apps.

6. Identify accounting related attributes for various scenarios in the
peering of CDNs. This may be dictated by the kinds of information available
at various points in the system like the info available at the surrogates,
or peered request routing systems, etc. This will help us decide on the
record formats.

7. Address push, pull issues during transfer of records. Also address
periodicity (interval between pulls or push). 

8. Consider issues for batch v/s real time accounting requirements.

----------------------------
Abhi Deshmukh
Apogee Networks Inc
mailto:abhi@apogeenet.com
+1-(201)-3688800 x266