ISO/IEC 4396-7:2023

Telecommunications and information exchange between systems - Recursive inter-network architecture - Part 7: Flow allocator

This document provides the flow allocator (FA) specification. It includes an overview of the flow allocator, its service definition, and its specification.

Télécommunications et échange d'information entre systèmes — Architecture récursive inter-réseaux — Partie 7: Allocateur de débit

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 04-Dec-2023
• ICS: 35.100.30 - Network layer
• Technical Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 6 - Telecommunications and information exchange between systems
• Drafting Committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 6 - Telecommunications and information exchange between systems
• Current Stage: 6060 - International Standard published
• Start Date: 05-Dec-2023
• Due Date: 11-May-2024
• Completion Date: 05-Dec-2023

Overview

ISO/IEC 4396-7:2023 specifies the Flow Allocator (FA) for the Recursive Inter‑Network Architecture (RINA). The standard defines the FA service, the behaviour of a Flow Allocator Instance (FAI), and the data structures and interactions needed to create, bind and manage interprocess communication (IPC) flows. It is not a low‑level protocol specification but uses the Common Distributed Application Protocol (CDAP) to sequence interactions and shows how FAI instantiates EFCP (Error and Flow Control Protocol) connections and interacts with naming, policy and resource functions.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Flow lifecycle management: allocation, monitoring and deallocation of flows; FA acts as the manager and spawns FAIs for individual flows.
• Flow object attributes: required fields for CDAP M_CREATE requests such as source/destination naming info, source/destination port‑IDs, source/destination addresses, connection‑ids array, current connection index, QoS parameters (e.g. AverageDataRate, Delay, Jitter), policy lists and parameters, access control, retry limits.
• FA vs FAI roles: FA is the container managing all allocations; an FAI manages a single flow’s end‑to‑end lifecycle and selects policy choices to meet application requests.
• Interaction sequencing: FAI creates EFCP instances before sending CDAP Create Flow Requests to discover destination applications and validate access; responses return success/failure, destination addresses, connection IDs and suggested policies.
• Directory Forwarding Table (DFT): maps application naming information to IPC Process addresses; supports iterative search (next hop or local address) and must provide a default entry to continue lookups.
• Policy framework: FA/FAI behaviour is driven by pluggable policies (e.g., AllocateNotifyPolicy, AllocateRetryPolicy, NewFlowRequestPolicy, SeqRollOverPolicy) and corresponding policy parameters.
• Events and behaviour specification: detailed states, events and behaviours for FA and FAI (see clauses on behaviour, instance behaviour and events).

Applications and who uses it

This standard is targeted at:

• Network architects and designers building RINA‑based systems
• Middleware and IPCP (IPC Process) implementers who must support flow creation, QoS and policy selection
• Firmware and software vendors integrating EFCP and CDAP for distributed messaging
• System integrators and researchers implementing recursive inter‑network solutions or experimental distributed systems

Practical uses include controlled creation of IPC flows with QoS guarantees, name‑based application discovery across DIFs, modular policy selection for flow behaviour, and integration of resource and sequence number management in distributed IPC.

Related standards

• ISO/IEC 4396-1 - Recursive Inter‑Network Architecture: Reference Model (normative reference)
• CDAP and EFCP are referenced as the protocol and transport/control components used in the flow allocation sequence.

Keywords: ISO/IEC 4396-7:2023, Flow Allocator, Recursive Inter‑Network Architecture, FAI, CDAP, EFCP, Directory Forwarding Table, QoS, Allocate_Request, IPC Process, policy-driven flow allocation.

Standards Content (Sample)

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 4396-7
First edition
2023-12
Telecommunications and
information exchange between
systems — Recursive inter-network
architecture —
Part 7:
Flow allocator
Télécommunications et échange d'information entre systèmes —
Architecture récursive inter-réseaux —
Partie 7: Allocateur de débit
Reference number
© ISO/IEC 2023
© ISO/IEC 2023
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, or required in the context of its implementation, no part of this publication may
be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on
the internet or an intranet, without prior written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below
or ISO’s member body in the country of the requester.
ISO copyright office
CP 401 • Ch. de Blandonnet 8
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva
Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
Website: www.iso.org
Published in Switzerland
ii
© ISO/IEC 2023 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Overview of the flow allocator . 2
4.1 Narrative description of the service . 2
4.2 Narrative description of the task . 2
5 Service definition . 2
6 Detailed specification of the task .2
6.1 Common elements . 2
6.1.1 Directory forwarding table. 2
6.1.2 Flow object . 2
6.2 Specification . 4
6.2.1 General . 4
6.2.2 Behaviour of a flow allocator . 4
6.2.3 Behaviour of a flow allocator instance . 5
6.2.4 Events . 8
6.3 Description of the policies . 10
6.3.1 AllocateNotifyPolicy . 10
6.3.2 AllocateRetryPolicy . 10
6.3.3 NewFlowRequestPolicy . 10
6.3.4 SeqRollOverPolicy . 10
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© ISO/IEC 2023 – All rights reserved

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical
activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international
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work.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance
are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria
needed for the different types of document should be noted. This document was drafted in
accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives or
www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs).
ISO and IEC draw attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve
the use of (a) patent(s). ISO and IEC take no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability
of any claimed patent rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO and
IEC had received notice of (a) patent(s) which may be required to implement this document. However,
implementers are cautioned that this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained
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Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
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For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
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www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html. In the IEC, see www.iec.ch/understanding-standards.
This document was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 6 Telecommunications and information exchange between systems.
A list of all parts in the ISO/IEC 4396 series can be found on the ISO and IEC websites.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards
body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html and
www.iec.ch/national-committees.
iv
© ISO/IEC 2023 – All rights reserved

Introduction
This document defines the sequencing of the interactions of the flow allocator (FA). It is not, strictly
speaking, a protocol specification. The protocol used in this document is the common distributed
application protocol (CDAP). This document uses the objects required to create a flow between two
processes and bind their endpoints to the applications that requested the flow.
The flow allocator is responsible for creating and managing an instance of interprocess communication
(IPC), i.e. a flow. The IPC-API communicates requests from the application to the distributed IPC facility
(DIF). An Allocate-Request causes an instance of the flow allocator to be created. The flow allocator-
instance (FAI) determines what policies will be utilized to provide the characteristics requested
in the Allocate. It is important that how these characteristics are communicated by the application
is decoupled from the selection of policies. This gives the DIF important flexibility in using different
policies, but also allows new policies to be incorporated. The FAI creates the error and flow control
protocol (EFCP) instance for the requested flow before sending the CDAP Create Flow Request to find
the destination application and determine whether the requestor has access to it.
A create request is sent with the source and destination application names, quality of service
information, and policy choices, as well as the necessary access control information. Using the name
space management (NSM) function, the FAI searches the IPC process (IPCP) in the DIF that resides on
the processing system that has access to the requested application. This exchange accomplishes three
functions:
— follows the search rules using the NSM function to find the address of an IPC-Process with access to
the destination application;
— determines whether the requesting application process has access to the requested application
process and whether or not the destination IPC-Process can support the requested communication;
— instantiates the requested application process, if necessary, and allocate a FAI and port-id in the
destination IPCP.
The create response will return an indication of success or failure. If successful, destination address
and connection-id information will also be returned along with suggested policy choices. This gives the
IPC-Processes sufficient information to then bind the port-ids to an EFCP-instance, i.e. a connection, so
that data transfer may proceed.
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© ISO/IEC 2023 – All rights reserved

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 4396-7:2023(E)
Telecommunications and information exchange between
systems — Recursive inter-network architecture —
Part 7:
Flow allocator
1 Scope
This document provides the flow allocator (FA) specification. It includes an overview of the flow
allocator, its service definition, and its specification.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 4396-1, Telecommunications and information exchange between systems – Recursive Inter-Network
Architecture – Part 1: Reference Model
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO 4396-1 and the following
apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at https:// www .electropedia .org/
3.1
directory forwarding table
table that maintains a set of entries that map application naming information to interprocess
communication (IPC) process addresses which belong to the IPC Processes, where the requested
application can be found or has information about where to search next
3.2
error and flow control protocol instance
EFCP instance
instantiation of EFCP for managing a single connection
3.3
Quality of Service-cube-id
QoS-cube-id
identifier unambiguous within this distributed IPC facility (DIF) that identifies a QoS-hypercube
Note 1 to entry: As QoS-cubes are created they are sequentially enumerated. QoS-cube-id is an element of Data
Transfer PCI that may be used to classify protocol-data-units (PDUs).
© ISO/IEC 2023 – All rights reserved

4 Overview of the flow allocator
4.1 Narrative description of the service
This task creates and monitors a flow and provides any management over its lifetime. Its only service is
to network management.
4.2 Narrative description of the task
The flow allocator has three major functions:
a) the allocation of a flow, i.e. an instance of communication;
b) to change the source address as instructed by the Resource Allocator;
c) to change the connection-id when the SequenceNumberRolloverThreshold is reached to next value
in those provided during Allocation.
5 Service definition
When an Allocate_Request or Deallocate_Request API call is made, it is processed by the flow allocator.
See 6.2.1.
6 Detailed specification of the task
6.1 Common elements
6.1.1 Directory forwarding table
The directory forwarding table maintains a set of entries that map application naming information to
IPC process addresses. The returned IPC process address is the address where the requested application
can be found or has information about where to search next.
If the returned address is the address of this IPC Process, then the requested application is here;
otherwise, the search continues, i.e. either this is the IPC process through which the application process
is reachable, or it can be the next IPC process in the chain to forward the request. The Directory
Forwarding Table should always return at least a default IPC process address or Application Process
Naming Information to continue looking for the application process, even if there are no entries for a
particular application process naming information known to this DIF. An IPC Process may maintain
alternate tables to be used under special circumstances.
The form of the table is:
Destination Application Process Name, Address of next place to look.
6.1.2 Flow object
The information necessary to create a flow object and send in a CDAP M_CREATE Request PDU is shown
in Table 1.
© ISO/IEC 2023 – All rights reserved

Table 1 — Attributes in flow object, summary
Attribute name Type Description
Source_Naming_Info: Struct The naming information of the application that request-
ed the flow.
Application-Process-Name: String
API-identifier: String Optional
AE-identifier: String Optional
AEI-id: String Optional
Destination_Naming_Info: Struct The naming information of the application that is the
destination of the flow.
Application-Process-Name: String
API-identifier: Integer Optional
AE-identifier: String Optional
AEI-id: String Optional
Source-Port-Id Unsigned The handle of the flow service for the source application.
integer
Destination-Port-ID Unsigned The handle of the flow service for the destination ap-
integer plication.
Source-Address Unsigned The synonym of the IPC Process that provides the flow
integer service to the source application.
Destination-Address Unsigned The synonym of the IPC Process that provides the flow
integer service to the destination application.
Connection-ids: Struct array This is an array of Connection-ids identifying the con-
nections that may be active for this flow, generally no
QoS-cube-id: Unsigned integer
more than two. Connections that are going to be used
Destination-CEP-id: Unsigned in-
earlier have a lower index, i.e. the first connection-Id to
teger
be used is the one in the 0 position.
Source-CEP-id: Unsigned integer
Current-Connection-id Unsigned This is the index of the Connection-id that is currently
integer “active” for sending data, although data may still arrive
on earlier connections.
State Byte The state of the flow.
QoS-Params: Struct The list of parameters from the Allocate_Request.
submit call that generated this flow.
AverageDataRate:
Unsigned integer
AverageSDUDataRate: Unsigned
integer
PeakDataRateDuration: Un-
signed integer
PeakSDUDataRateDuration:
Unsigned integer
UndetectedBitErrorRate: Double
PartialDelivery: Boolean
Order: Boolean
MaxAllowableGapSDU: Unsigned
integer
Delay: Unsigned integer
Jitter: Unsigned integer
extraParameters: Array of
name-value pairs
Policies Array of The list of policies that are used to control this flow.
name-value This is conceptually a property list of (name, value)
pairs pairs, where the name represents a policy, and the va
...