RFC 8877 Packet Timestamps September 2020
Mizrahi, et al. Informational [Page]
Stream:
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
RFC:
8877
Category:
Informational
Published:
ISSN:
2070-1721
Authors:
T. Mizrahi
Huawei
J. Fabini
TU Wien
A. Morton
AT&T Labs

RFC 8877

Guidelines for Defining Packet Timestamps

Abstract

Various network protocols make use of binary-encoded timestamps that are incorporated in the protocol packet format, referred to as "packet timestamps" for short. This document specifies guidelines for defining packet timestamp formats in networking protocols at various layers. It also presents three recommended timestamp formats. The target audience of this document includes network protocol designers. It is expected that a new network protocol that requires a packet timestamp will, in most cases, use one of the recommended timestamp formats. If none of the recommended formats fits the protocol requirements, the new protocol specification should specify the format of the packet timestamp according to the guidelines in this document.

Status of This Memo

This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.

This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Not all documents approved by the IESG are candidates for any level of Internet Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841.

Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8877.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

1.1. Background

Timestamps are widely used in network protocols for various purposes: for logging or reporting the time of an event, for messages in delay measurement and clock synchronization protocols, and as part of a value that is unlikely to repeat (nonce) in security protocols.

Timestamps are represented in the RFC series in one of two forms: text-based timestamps and packet timestamps. Text-based timestamps [RFC3339] are represented as user-friendly strings and are widely used in the RFC series -- for example, in information objects and data models, e.g., [RFC5646], [RFC6991], and [RFC7493]. Packet timestamps, on the other hand, are represented by a compact binary field that has a fixed size and are not intended to have a human-friendly format. Packet timestamps are also very common in the RFC series and are used, for example, for measuring delay and for synchronizing clocks, e.g., [RFC5905], [RFC4656], and [RFC7323].

1.2. Scope of this Document

This document presents guidelines for defining a packet timestamp format in network protocols. Three recommended timestamp formats are presented. It is expected that a new network protocol that requires a packet timestamp will, in most cases, use one of these recommended timestamp formats. In some cases, a network protocol may use more than one of the recommended timestamp formats. However, if none of the recommended formats fits the protocol requirements, the new protocol specification should specify the format of the packet timestamp according to the guidelines in this document.

The rationale behind defining a relatively small set of recommended formats is that it enables significant reuse; network protocols can typically reuse the timestamp format of the Network Time Protocol (NTP) [RFC5905] or the Precision Time Protocol (PTP) [IEEE1588], allowing a straightforward integration with an NTP- or PTP-based timer. Moreover, since accurate timestamping mechanisms are often implemented in hardware, a new network protocol that reuses an existing timestamp format can be quickly deployed using existing hardware timestamping capabilities.

1.3. How to Use This Document

This document is intended as a reference for network protocol designers. When defining a network protocol that uses a packet timestamp, the recommended timestamp formats should be considered first (Section 4). If one of these formats is used, it should be referenced along the lines of the examples in Sections 6.1 and 6.2. If none of the recommended formats fits the required functionality, then a new timestamp format should be defined using the template in Section 3.

2. Terminology

2.1. Requirements Language

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.

2.2. Abbreviations

NTP
Network Time Protocol [RFC5905]
PTP
Precision Time Protocol [IEEE1588]
TAI
International Atomic Time
UTC
Coordinated Universal Time

2.3. Terms Used in This Document

Timestamp:
A value that represents a point in time, corresponding to an event that occurred or is scheduled to occur.
Timestamp error:
The difference between the timestamp value and the value of a reference clock at the time of the event that the timestamp was intended to indicate.
Timestamp format:
The specification of a timestamp, which is represented by a set of attributes that unambiguously defines the syntax and semantics of a timestamp.
Timestamp accuracy:
The mean over an ensemble of measurements of the timestamp error.
Timestamp precision:
The variation over an ensemble of measurements of the timestamp error.
Timestamp resolution:
The minimal time unit used for representing the timestamp.

3. Packet Timestamp Specification Template

This document recommends using the timestamp formats defined in Section 4. In cases where these timestamp formats do not satisfy the protocol requirements, the timestamp specification should clearly state the reasons for defining a new format. Moreover, it is recommended to derive the new timestamp format from an existing timestamp format, either a timestamp format from this document or any other previously defined timestamp format.

The timestamp specification must unambiguously define the syntax and semantics of the timestamp. The current section defines the minimum set of attributes, but it should be noted that in some cases, additional attributes or aspects will need to be defined in the timestamp specification.

This section defines a template for specifying packet timestamps. A timestamp format specification MUST include at least the following aspects:

Timestamp syntax:
Size:

The number of bits (or octets) used to represent the packet timestamp field. If the timestamp is comprised of more than one field, the size of each field is specified. Network order (big endian) is assumed by default; if this is not the case, then this section explicitly specifies the endianity.

Timestamp semantics:
Units:

The units used to represent the timestamp. If the timestamp is comprised of more than one field, the units of each field are specified. If a field is limited to a specific range of values, this section specifies the permitted range of values.

Resolution:

The timestamp resolution; the resolution is equal to the timestamp field unit. If the timestamp consists of two or more fields using different time units, then the resolution is the smallest time unit.

Wraparound:

The wraparound period of the timestamp; any further wraparound-related considerations should be described here.

Epoch:

The origin of the timescale used for the timestamp; the moment in time used as a reference for the timestamp value. For example, the epoch may be based on a standard time scale, such as UTC. Another example is a relative timestamp, in which the epoch could be the time at which the device using the timestamp was powered up and is not affected by leap seconds (see the next attribute).

Leap seconds:

This subsection specifies whether the timestamp is affected by leap seconds. If the timestamp is affected by leap seconds, then it represents the time elapsed since the epoch minus the number of leap seconds that have occurred since the epoch.

Synchronization aspects:
The specification of a network protocol that makes use of a packet timestamp is expected to include the synchronization aspects of using the timestamp. While the synchronization aspects are not strictly part of the timestamp format specification, these aspects provide the necessary context for using the timestamp within the scope of the protocol. In some cases, timestamps are used without synchronization, e.g., a timestamp that indicates the number of seconds since power-up. In such cases, the Synchronization Aspects section will specify that the timestamp does not correspond to a synchronized time reference and may discuss how this affects the usage of the timestamp. Further details about synchronization aspects are discussed in Section 5.

5. Synchronization Aspects

A specification that defines a new timestamp format or uses one of the recommended timestamp formats should include a Synchronization Aspects section. Note that the recommended timestamp formats defined in this document (Section 4) do not include the synchronization aspects of these timestamp formats, but it is expected that specifications of network protocols that make use of these formats should include the synchronization aspects. Examples of a Synchronization Aspects section can be found in Section 6.

The Synchronization Aspects section should specify all the assumptions and requirements related to synchronization. For example, the synchronization aspects may specify whether nodes populating the timestamps should be synchronized among themselves and whether the timestamp is measured with respect to a central reference clock such as an NTP server. If time is assumed to be synchronized to a time standard such as UTC or TAI, it should be specified in this section. Further considerations may be discussed in this section, such as the required timestamp accuracy and precision.

Another aspect that should be discussed in this section is leap second [RFC5905] considerations. The timestamp specification template (Section 3) specifies whether the timestamp is affected by leap seconds. It is often the case that further details about leap seconds will need to be defined in the Synchronization Aspects section. Generally speaking, a leap second is a one-second adjustment that is occasionally applied to UTC in order to keep it aligned with solar time. A leap second may be either positive or negative, i.e., the clock may either be shifted one second forward or backward. All leap seconds that have occurred up to the publication of this document have been in the backward direction, and although forward leap seconds are theoretically possible, the text throughout this document focuses on the common case, which is the backward leap second. In a timekeeping system that considers leap seconds, the system clock may be affected by a leap second in one of three possible ways:

The way leap seconds are handled depends on the synchronization protocol and is thus not specified in this document. However, if a timestamp format is defined with respect to a timescale that is affected by leap seconds, the Synchronization Aspects section should specify how the use of leap seconds affects the timestamp usage.

6. Timestamp Use Cases

Packet timestamps are used in various network protocols. Typical applications of packet timestamps include delay measurement, clock synchronization, and others. The following table presents a (non-exhaustive) list of protocols that use packet timestamps and the timestamp formats used in each of these protocols.

Table 1: Protocols That Use Packet Timestamps
Recommended Formats Other
Protocol NTP 64-Bit NTP 32-Bit PTP Trunc.
NTP [RFC5905] +
OWAMP [RFC4656] +
TWAMP [RFC5357]
TWAMP [RFC8186]
+
+

+
TRILL [RFC7456] +
MPLS [RFC6374] +
TCP [RFC7323] +
RTP [RFC3550] + +
IPFIX [RFC7011] +
BinaryTime [RFC6019] +
[METRICS] + +
[NSHMD] + +

The rest of this section presents two hypothetical examples of network protocol specifications that use one of the recommended timestamp formats. The examples include the text that specifies the information related to the timestamp format.

6.1. Example 1

Timestamp:
The timestamp format used in this specification is the NTP [RFC5905] 64-bit format, as described in Section 4.2.1 of RFC 8877.
Synchronization aspects:
It is assumed that the nodes that run this protocol are synchronized to UTC using a synchronization mechanism that is outside the scope of this document. In typical deployments, this protocol will run on a machine that uses NTP [RFC5905] for synchronization. Thus, the timestamp may be derived from the NTP-synchronized clock, allowing the timestamp to be measured with respect to the clock of an NTP server. Since the NTP time format is affected by leap seconds, the current timestamp format is similarly affected. Thus, the value of a timestamp during and possibly before and/or after a leap second may be temporarily inaccurate.

6.2. Example 2

Timestamp:
The timestamp format used in this specification is the PTP [IEEE1588] truncated format, as described in Section 4.3 of RFC 8877.
Synchronization aspects:
It is assumed that the nodes that run this protocol are synchronized among themselves. Nodes may be synchronized to a global reference time. Note that if PTP [IEEE1588] is used for synchronization, the timestamp may be derived from the PTP-synchronized clock, allowing the timestamp to be measured with respect to a PTP grandmaster clock.

7. Packet Timestamp Control Field

In some cases, it is desirable to have a control field that describes the structure, format, content, and properties of timestamps. Control information about the timestamp format can be conveyed in some protocols using a dedicated control plane protocol or may be made available at the management plane, for example, using a YANG data model. An optional control field allows some of the control information to be attached to the timestamp.

An example of a packet timestamp control field is the Error Estimate field, defined by Section 4.1.2 of [RFC4656], which is used in the One-Way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP) [RFC4656] and Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP) [RFC5357]. The Root Dispersion and Root Delay fields in the NTP header [RFC5905] are two examples of fields that provide information about the timestamp precision. Another example of an auxiliary field is the Correction Field in the PTP header [IEEE1588]; its value is used as a correction to the timestamp and may be assigned by the sender of the PTP message and updated by transit nodes (Transparent Clocks) in order to account for the delay along the path.

This section defines high-level guidelines for defining packet timestamp control fields in network protocols that can benefit from such timestamp-related control information. The word "requirements" is used in its informal context in this section.

7.1. High-Level Control Field Requirements

A control field for packet timestamps must offer an adequate feature set and fulfill a series of requirements to be usable and accepted. The following list captures the main high-level requirements for timestamp fields.

  1. Extensible Feature Set: Protocols and applications depend on various timestamp characteristics. A timestamp control field must support a variable number of elements (components) that either describe or quantify timestamp-specific characteristics or parameters. Examples of potential elements include timestamp size, encoding, accuracy, leap seconds, reference clock identifiers, etc.
  2. Size: Essential for an efficient use of timestamp control fields is the trade-off between supported features and control field size. Protocols and applications may select the specific control field elements that are needed for their operation from the set of available elements.
  3. Composition: Applications may depend on specific control field elements being present in messages. The status of these elements may be either mandatory, conditional mandatory, or optional, depending on the specific application and context. A control field specification must support applications in conveying or negotiating (a) the set of control field elements along with (b) the status of any element (i.e., mandatory, conditional mandatory, or optional) by defining appropriate data structures and identity codes.
  4. Category: Control field elements can characterize either static timestamp information (e.g., timestamp size in bytes and timestamp semantics: NTP 64-bit format) or runtime timestamp information (e.g., estimated timestamp accuracy at the time of sampling: 20 microseconds to UTC). For efficiency reasons, it may be meaningful to support separation of these two concepts: while the former (static) information is typically valid throughout a protocol session and may be conveyed only once, at session establishment time, the latter (runtime) information augments any timestamp instance and may cause substantial overhead for high-traffic protocols.

Proposals for timestamp control fields will be defined in separate documents and are out of scope of this document.

8. IANA Considerations

This document has no IANA actions.

9. Security Considerations

A network protocol that uses a packet timestamp MUST specify the security considerations that result from using the timestamp. This section provides an overview of some of the common security considerations of using timestamps.

Any metadata that is attached to control or data packets, and specifically packet timestamps, can facilitate network reconnaissance; by passively eavesdropping on timestamped packets, an attacker can gather information about the network performance and the level of synchronization between nodes.

In some cases, timestamps could be spoofed or modified by on-path attackers, thus attacking the application that uses the timestamps. For example, if timestamps are used in a delay measurement protocol, an attacker can modify en route timestamps in a way that manipulates the measurement results. Integrity protection mechanisms, such as Message Authentication Codes (MACs), can mitigate such attacks. The specification of an integrity protection mechanism is outside the scope of this document as, typically, integrity protection will be defined on a per-network-protocol basis and not specifically for the timestamp field.

Another potential threat that can have a similar impact is delay attacks. An attacker can maliciously delay some or all of the en route messages, with the same harmful implications as described in the previous paragraph. Mitigating delay attacks is a significant challenge; in contrast to spoofing and modification attacks, the delay attack cannot be prevented by cryptographic integrity protection mechanisms. In some cases, delay attacks can be mitigated by sending the timestamped information through multiple paths, allowing detection of and resistance to an attacker that has access to one of the paths.

In many cases, timestamping relies on an underlying synchronization mechanism. Thus, any attack that compromises the synchronization mechanism can also compromise protocols that use timestamping. Attacks on time protocols are discussed in detail in [RFC7384].

10. References

10.1. Normative References

[RFC2119]
Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC8174]
Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

10.2. Informative References

[IEEE1588]
IEEE, "IEEE Standard for a Precision Clock Synchronization Protocol for Networked Measurement and Control Systems", DOI 10.1109/IEEESTD.2008.4579760, IEEE Std. 1588-2008, , <https://doi.org/10.1109/IEEESTD.2008.4579760>.
[IEEE1588v1]
IEEE, "IEEE Standard for a Precision Clock Synchronization Protocol for Networked Measurement and Control Systems", DOI 10.1109/IEEESTD.2002.94144, IEEE Std. 1588-2002, , <https://doi.org/10.1109/IEEESTD.2002.94144>.
[ITU-T-Y.1731]
ITU-T, "Operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) functions and mechanisms for Ethernet-based networks", ITU-T Recommendation G.8013/Y.1731, .
[METRICS]
Morton, A., Bagnulo, M., Eardley, P., and K. D'Souza, "Initial Performance Metrics Registry Entries", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-ippm-initial-registry-16, , <https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-ippm-initial-registry-16>.
[NSHMD]
Guichard, J., Smith, M., Kumar, S., Majee, S., and T. Mizrahi, "Network Service Header (NSH) MD Type 1: Context Header Allocation (Data Center)", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-sfc-nsh-dc-allocation-02, , <https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-sfc-nsh-dc-allocation-02>.
[RFC3339]
Klyne, G. and C. Newman, "Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps", RFC 3339, DOI 10.17487/RFC3339, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3339>.
[RFC3550]
Schulzrinne, H., Casner, S., Frederick, R., and V. Jacobson, "RTP: A Transport Protocol for Real-Time Applications", STD 64, RFC 3550, DOI 10.17487/RFC3550, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3550>.
[RFC4656]
Shalunov, S., Teitelbaum, B., Karp, A., Boote, J., and M. Zekauskas, "A One-way Active Measurement Protocol (OWAMP)", RFC 4656, DOI 10.17487/RFC4656, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4656>.
[RFC5357]
Hedayat, K., Krzanowski, R., Morton, A., Yum, K., and J. Babiarz, "A Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP)", RFC 5357, DOI 10.17487/RFC5357, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5357>.
[RFC5646]
Phillips, A., Ed. and M. Davis, Ed., "Tags for Identifying Languages", BCP 47, RFC 5646, DOI 10.17487/RFC5646, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5646>.
[RFC5905]
Mills, D., Martin, J., Ed., Burbank, J., and W. Kasch, "Network Time Protocol Version 4: Protocol and Algorithms Specification", RFC 5905, DOI 10.17487/RFC5905, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5905>.
[RFC6019]
Housley, R., "BinaryTime: An Alternate Format for Representing Date and Time in ASN.1", RFC 6019, DOI 10.17487/RFC6019, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6019>.
[RFC6374]
Frost, D. and S. Bryant, "Packet Loss and Delay Measurement for MPLS Networks", RFC 6374, DOI 10.17487/RFC6374, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6374>.
[RFC6991]
Schoenwaelder, J., Ed., "Common YANG Data Types", RFC 6991, DOI 10.17487/RFC6991, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6991>.
[RFC7011]
Claise, B., Ed., Trammell, B., Ed., and P. Aitken, "Specification of the IP Flow Information Export (IPFIX) Protocol for the Exchange of Flow Information", STD 77, RFC 7011, DOI 10.17487/RFC7011, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7011>.
[RFC7323]
Borman, D., Braden, B., Jacobson, V., and R. Scheffenegger, Ed., "TCP Extensions for High Performance", RFC 7323, DOI 10.17487/RFC7323, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7323>.
[RFC7384]
Mizrahi, T., "Security Requirements of Time Protocols in Packet Switched Networks", RFC 7384, DOI 10.17487/RFC7384, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7384>.
[RFC7456]
Mizrahi, T., Senevirathne, T., Salam, S., Kumar, D., and D. Eastlake 3rd, "Loss and Delay Measurement in Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL)", RFC 7456, DOI 10.17487/RFC7456, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7456>.
[RFC7493]
Bray, T., Ed., "The I-JSON Message Format", RFC 7493, DOI 10.17487/RFC7493, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7493>.
[RFC8186]
Mirsky, G. and I. Meilik, "Support of the IEEE 1588 Timestamp Format in a Two-Way Active Measurement Protocol (TWAMP)", RFC 8186, DOI 10.17487/RFC8186, , <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8186>.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Russ Housley, Yaakov Stein, Greg Mirsky, Warner Losh, Rodney Cummings, Miroslav Lichvar, Denis Reilly, Daniel Franke, Éric Vyncke, Ben Kaduk, Ian Swett, Francesca Palombini, Watson Ladd, and other members of the NTP Working Group for their many helpful comments. The authors gratefully acknowledge Harlan Stenn and the people from the Network Time Foundation for sharing their thoughts and ideas.

Authors' Addresses

Tal Mizrahi
Huawei
8-2 Matam
Haifa 3190501
Israel
Joachim Fabini
TU Wien
Gusshausstrasse 25/E389
1040 Vienna
Austria
Al Morton
AT&T Labs
200 Laurel Avenue South
Middletown, NJ 07748
United States of America

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