ETSI GS MEC 016 V3.1.1 (2024-03)

Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC); Device application interface

RGS/MEC-0016v311DevAppInterfac

General Information

• Status: Not Published
• Technical Committee: MEC - Multi-access Edge Computing
• Current Stage: 12 - Citation in the OJ (auto-insert)
• Due Date: 25-Mar-2024
• Completion Date: 05-Mar-2024

Standards Content (Sample)

GROUP SPECIFICATION
Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC);
Device application interface
Disclaimer
The present document has been produced and approved by the Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) ETSI Industry
Specification Group (ISG) and represents the views of those members who participated in this ISG.
It does not necessarily represent the views of the entire ETSI membership.

2 ETSI GS MEC 016 V3.1.1 (2024-03)

Reference
RGS/MEC-0016v311 DevAppInterfac
Keywords
API, MEC
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3 ETSI GS MEC 016 V3.1.1 (2024-03)
Contents
Intellectual Property Rights . 5
Foreword . 5
Modal verbs terminology . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 References . 6
2.1 Normative references . 6
2.2 Informative references . 7
3 Definition of terms, symbols and abbreviations . 7
3.1 Terms . 7
3.2 Symbols . 7
3.3 Abbreviations . 7
4 Overview . 7
5 Description of the service (informative). 8
5.1 Sequence diagrams . 8
5.1.1 Introduction. 8
5.1.2 User application look-up . 8
5.1.3 Application context create . 8
5.1.4 Application context delete . 9
5.1.5 Application context update . 10
5.1.6 Receiving notification events . 10
5.1.7 Location constraint look-up . 11
5.2 Considerations on API endpoints . 11
6 Data model . 11
6.1 Introduction . 11
6.2 Resource data types . 12
6.2.1 Introduction. 12
6.2.2 Type: ApplicationList . 12
6.2.3 Type: AppContext . 13
6.2.4 Type: ApplicationLocationAvailability . 14
6.3 Subscription data types . 14
6.4 Notification data types . 15
6.4.1 Introduction. 15
6.4.2 Type: AddressChangeNotification . 15
6.4.3 Type: ApplicationContextDeleteNotification . 15
6.4.4 Type: ApplicationContextUpdateNotification . 15
6.4.5 Type: ApplicationLocationAvailabilityNotification . 16
6.5 Referenced structured data types . 16
6.5.1 Introduction. 16
6.5.2 Type: LocationConstraints . 16
6.5.2.1 Description . 16
6.5.2.2 Attributes . 16
7 API definition . 17
7.1 Introduction . 17
7.2 Global definitions and resource structure . 17
7.3 Resource: meAppList . 18
7.3.1 Description . 18
7.3.2 Resource definition . 18
7.3.3 Resource Methods . 18
7.3.3.1 GET . 18
7.3.3.2 PUT . 19
7.3.3.3 PATCH . 19
7.3.3.4 POST . 19
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7.3.3.5 DELETE . 19
7.4 Resource: all devAppContexts . 20
7.4.1 Description . 20
7.4.2 Resource definition . 20
7.4.3 Resource Methods . 20
7.4.3.1 GET . 20
7.4.3.2 PUT . 20
7.4.3.3 PATCH . 20
7.4.3.4 POST . 20
7.4.3.5 DELETE . 21
7.5 Resource: individual devAppContext . 21
7.5.1 Description . 21
7.5.2 Resource definition . 21
7.5.3 Resource Methods . 22
7.5.3.1 GET . 22
7.5.3.2 PUT . 22
7.5.3.3 PATCH . 23
7.5.3.4 POST . 23
7.5.3.5 DELETE . 23
7.6 Resource: obtain application location availability task . 23
7.6.1 Description . 23
7.6.2 Resource definition . 24
7.6.3 Resource Methods . 24
7.6.3.1 GET . 24
7.6.3.2 PUT . 24
7.6.3.3 PATCH . 24
7.6.3.4 POST . 24
7.6.3.5 DELETE . 25
8 Authentication, authorization and access control . 25
8.1 Introduction . 25
8.2 Description . 25
8.3 Provisioning considerations. 26
Annex A (informative): Complementary material for API utilization . 27
History . 28

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Intellectual Property Rights
Essential patents
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pertaining to these essential IPRs, if any, are publicly available for ETSI members and non-members, and can be
found in ETSI SR 000 314: "Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs); Essential, or potentially Essential, IPRs notified to
ETSI in respect of ETSI standards", which is available from the ETSI Secretariat. Latest updates are available on the
ETSI Web server (https://ipr.etsi.org/).
Pursuant to the ETSI Directives including the ETSI IPR Policy, no investigation regarding the essentiality of IPRs,
including IPR searches, has been carried out by ETSI. No guarantee can be given as to the existence of other IPRs not
referenced in ETSI SR 000 314 (or the updates on the ETSI Web server) which are, or may be, or may become,
essential to the present document.
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oneM2M Partners. GSM and the GSM logo are trademarks registered and owned by the GSM Association.
Foreword
This Group Specification (GS) has been produced by ETSI Industry Specification Group (ISG) Multi-access Edge
Computing (MEC).
Modal verbs terminology
In the present document "shall", "shall not", "should", "should not", "may", "need not", "will", "will not", "can" and
"cannot" are to be interpreted as described in clause 3.2 of the ETSI Drafting Rules (Verbal forms for the expression of
provisions).
"must" and "must not" are NOT allowed in ETSI deliverables except when used in direct citation.
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1 Scope
The present document contains the API definition for the lifecycle management of user applications over the Mx2
reference point between the device application and the User Application LifeCycle Management Proxy (UALCMP) in
the MEC system.
The present document covers the following lifecycle management operations: user application look-up, instantiation
and termination. In addition, a mechanism is specified for the exchange of lifecycle management related information
between the MEC system and the device application.
The intended key audience of the present document are the application developers for the MEC system, since this API
provides them with a method to manage their applications.
NOTE: User application mobility related lifecycle management operations are not covered by the present
document.
2 References
2.1 Normative references
References are either specific (identified by date of publication and/or edition number or version number) or
non-specific. For specific references, only the cited version applies. For non-specific references, the latest version of the
referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
Referenced documents which are not found to be publicly available in the expected location might be found at
https://docbox.etsi.org/Reference/.
NOTE: While any hyperlinks included in this clause were valid at the time of publication, ETSI cannot guarantee
their long term validity.
The following referenced documents are necessary for the application of the present document.
[1] ETSI GS MEC 010-2: "Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC); MEC Management; Part 2:
Application lifecycle, rules and requirements management".
[2] Void.
[3] Void.
[4] IETF RFC 6749: "The OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework".
[5] IETF RFC 6750: "The OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework: Bearer Token Usage".
[6] IETF RFC 4776: "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCPv4 and DHCPv6) Option for
Civic Addresses Configuration Information".
[7] ISO 3166: "Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions".
[8] IETF RFC 7946: "The GeoJSON Format".
[9] ETSI GS MEC 009: "Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC); General principles, patterns and
common aspects of MEC Service APIs".
[10] IETF RFC 8705: "OAuth 2.0 Mutual-TLS Client Authentication and Certificate-Bound Access
Tokens".
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2.2 Informative references
References are either specific (identified by date of publication and/or edition number or version number) or
non-specific. For specific references, only the cited version applies. For non-specific references, the latest version of the
referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
NOTE: While any hyperlinks included in this clause were valid at the time of publication, ETSI cannot guarantee
their long term validity.
The following referenced documents are not necessary for the application of the present document but they assist the
user with regard to a particular subject area.
[i.1] ETSI GR MEC 001: "Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC); Terminology".
[i.2] ETSI GS MEC 002: "Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC); Use Cases and Requirements".
[i.3] OpenAPI™ Specification.
NOTE: OpenAPI Specification and OpenAPI Initiative and their respective logos, are trademarks of the Linux
Foundation.
[i.4] Void.
3 Definition of terms, symbols and abbreviations
3.1 Terms
For the purposes of the present document, the terms given in ETSI GR MEC 001 [i.1] and the following apply:
user application lifecycle management proxy: system level functional element that allows specific and authorized
requests from the device application for the user application lifecycle management
3.2 Symbols
Void.
3.3 Abbreviations
For the purposes of the present document, the abbreviations given in ETSI GR MEC 001 [i.1] and the following apply:
AA Authentication and Authorization
TLS Transport Layer Security
UALCMP User Application LifeCycle Management Proxy
4 Overview
The present document specifies the API for the Mx2 reference point to support the corresponding requirements defined
for the Multi-access Edge Computing in ETSI GS MEC 002 [i.2].
Clause 5 describes how the API can be used by the device application and by the MEC system. It describes the
information flows for the procedures over the Mx2 reference point. It also describes the relevant API endpoints such as
the UALCMP and the API gateway.
The information that is exchanged over the Mx2 reference point is described in clause 6, providing detailed description
of all information elements available on that interface.
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Clause 7 describes the actual API, providing detailed information how the information elements map into the RESTful
API design of the interface.
Clause 8 describes the authentication, authorization and access control for the API.
5 Description of the service (informative)
5.1 Sequence diagrams
5.1.1 Introduction
The following clauses describe how the device application interacts with the UALCMP over the Mx2 reference point.
The sequence diagrams that are relevant for the API are presented.
The device application presents the access token to the UALCMP with every request in order to assert that it is allowed
to access the resource with the particular method it invokes. The access token is included in the "Authorization" request
header field as a bearer token according to IETF RFC 6750 [5].
5.1.2 User application look-up
The user application look-up is the procedure for requesting the list of available user applications in the MEC system to
the requesting device application. The user application look-up procedure is illustrated in figure 5.1.2-1.

Figure 5.1.2-1: User application look-up
1) The device application submits the GET request to the UALCMP. The UALCMP authorizes the request from
device application. The MEC system retrieves the list of user applications available to the requesting device
application.
2) The UALCMP returns the 200 OK response to the device application, with the message body containing the
data structure for the list of available user applications.
5.1.3 Application context create
The application context create is the procedure to request either to join with an available user application or to
instantiate a new user application. The application context create procedure is illustrated in figure 5.1.3-1.
As part of the user application instantiation, the MEC system will create an associated application context that the MEC
system maintains for the lifetime of the user application. The application context contains information specific to the
instance(s) of the user application such as unique identifiers within the MEC system and the address(es) (URI) provided
for clients that are external to the MEC system to interact with the user application.
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Figure 5.1.3-1: Application context create
1) The device application submits the POST request to the UALCMP. The message body contains the data
structure for the application context to be created.
2) The UALCMP authorizes the request from the device application. The request is forwarded to the OSS. The
OSS makes the decision on granting the context creation request. The MEC orchestrator triggers the creation
of the application context in the MEC system.
3) The UALCMP returns the 201 Created response to the device application with the message body containing
the data structure of the created application context, which includes the address(es) (reference URIs) provided
for clients that are external to the MEC system to interact with the user application. The response message
header contains the address of the resource relating to the application instance context created and maintained
by the MEC system.
5.1.4 Application context delete
The application context delete is a procedure in which the device application requests the deletion of the application
context. The application context delete procedure is illustrated in figure 5.1.4-1.

Figure 5.1.4-1: Application context delete
1) The device application submits the DELETE request to the UALCMP for the application context to be deleted.
2) The UALCMP authorizes the request from device application. The request is forwarded to the OSS. The OSS
makes the decision on granting the deletion. The MEC orchestrator triggers the deletion of the application
context, including deletion of the resource maintained by the MEC system that represents it.
3) The UALCMP returns "204 No content" response.
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5.1.5 Application context update
The UALCMP is provided with an update of the application context. The procedure is illustrated in figure 5.1.5-1.

Figure 5.1.5-1: Application context update
1) The device application updates a specific application context by sending a PUT request to the resource within
the MEC system that represents it, with the message body containing the modified data structure of
AppContext in which only the callback reference and/or application location constraints, may be updated.
2) The UALCMP returns a "204 No Content" response.
5.1.6 Receiving notification events
Figure 5.1.6-1 presents the scenario where the UALCMP sends notification events to the device application.

Figure 5.1.6-1: Flow of receiving notification events
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Receiving notification events, as illustrated in figure 5.1.6-1, consists of the following steps:
1) The UALCMP sends a POST message to the callback reference address provided by the device application as
part of application context creation, with the message body containing the {Notification} data structure. The
variable {Notification} is replaced with the data type specified for different notification events as specified in
clauses 6.4.2 through 6.4.4, indicating for instance a modification to the address of the user application
instance.
2) The device application sends a "204 No Content" response to the UALCMP.
5.1.7 Location constraint look-up
The location constraint look-up is the procedure for a device application to obtain a list of locations available for
instantiation of a specific user application in the MEC system. The location constraint look-up procedure is illustrated in
figure 5.1.7-1.
Figure 5.1.7-1: User application location constraint look-up
1) The device application submits a POST request to the UALCMP. The message body contains the data
structure identifying the application. The UALCMP authorizes the request from the device application. The
locations are then evaluated by the MEC system.
2) The UALCMP returns the 200 OK response to the device application, with the message body containing the
data structure for the list of available user application locations as evaluated by the MEC system.
5.2 Considerations on API endpoints
The User Application LifeCycle Management Proxy (UALCMP) exposes the Mx2 APIs to the device application.
Using these APIs, a device application can request the application lifecycle management operations as outlined in
clause 5.1.
In the context of the present document, the device has both a device application and a client application running. The
device application interacts with the UALCMP; the client application interacts with a MEC application on the MEC
host, and a MEC Operator may employ an API gateway functionality for API requests from such client applications.
The API gateway is an operator managed entity that is a logical single point of entry for all API requests, including
MEC system APIs. It can encompass multiple functions including, but not limited to, security, access control, load
balancing/routing, protocol translation, as well monitoring API requests for auditing, billing, and charging. Depending
on operator deployments, the API gateway functionality can accompany the MEC platform, and be used to front API
requests from client applications to access MEC services.
6 Data model
6.1 Introduction
The following clauses provide the description of the data model.
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6.2 Resource data types
6.2.1 Introduction
This clause defines data structures to be used in resource representations.
6.2.2 Type: ApplicationList
This type represents the information on available applications
...