2 Architecture

• 2.1 Endpoints
• 2.2 Endpoint Identifier
• 2.3 Service Elements
• 2.4 Data Models
• 2.5 Path Names
• 2.6 Other Path Decorators
• 2.7 Data Model Path Grammar

The User Services Platform consists of a collection of Endpoints (Agents and Controllers) that allow applications to manipulate Service Elements. These Service Elements are made up of a set of Objects and Parameters that model a given service, such as network interfaces, software modules, device firmware, remote elements proxied through another interface, virtual elements, or other managed services.

USP is made up of several architectural components:

• Mechanisms for discovery and trust establishment
• A method for encoding messages for transport
• A system for end-to-end confidentiality, integrity and identity authentication
• Transport of messages over one or more Message Transfer Protocols (MTPs) with associated MTP security
• A set of standardized messages based on the CRUD model (create, read, update, delete), plus an Object defined operations mechanism and a notification mechanism (CRUD-ON)
• Authorization and access control on a per element basis
• A method for modeling service elements using a set of Objects, Parameters, operations, and events (supported and instantiated data models)

2.1 Endpoints

A USP Endpoint can act as Agent or a Controller. Controllers only send messages to Agents, and Agents send messages to Controllers. A USP Endpoint communicates with other Endpoints over one or more Message Transfer Protocols (MTP). This communication is secured by the MTP, or by the use of a USP Session Context, or both.

2.1.1 Agents

A USP Agent exposes (to Controllers) one or more Service Elements that are represented in its data model. It contains or references both an Instantiated Data Model (representing the current state of Service Elements it represents) and a Supported Data Model.

2.1.2 Controllers

A USP Controller manipulates (through Agents) a set of Service Elements that are represented in Agent data models. It may maintain a database of Agents, their capabilities, and their states, in any combination. A Controller usually acts as an interface to a user application or policy engine that uses the User Services Platform to address particular use cases.

2.2 Endpoint Identifier

Endpoints are identified by an Endpoint Identifier.

The Endpoint Identifier is a locally or globally unique USP layer identifier of an Endpoint. Whether it is globally or locally unique depends on the scheme used for assignment.

The Endpoint Identifier (ID) is used in the USP Record and various Parameters in a USP Message to uniquely identify Controller and Agent Endpoints. It can be globally or locally unique, either among all Endpoints or among all Controllers or all Agents, depending on the scheme used for assignment.

The Endpoint ID is comprised of two mandatory and one optionally mandatory components: authority-scheme, authority-id, and instance-id.

These three components are combined as:

authority-scheme ":" [authority-id] ":" instance-id

The format of the authority-id is dictated by the authority-scheme. The format of the instance-id is dictated either by the authority-scheme or by the entity identified by the authority-id.

When used in a certificate, an Endpoint ID is expressed as a urn in the bbf namespace as:

"urn:bbf:usp:id:" authority-scheme ":" [authority-id] ":" instance-id

When used anywhere else (e.g. in the to_id and from_id of a USP Record), the namespace information is omitted, and the Endpoint ID is expressed as:

authority-scheme ":" [authority-id] ":" instance-id

2.2.1 Use of authority-scheme and authority-id

The authority-scheme follows the following syntax:

authority-scheme = "oui" | "cid" | "pen" | "self" | "user" | "os" | "ops" | "uuid" | "imei" | "proto" | "doc" | "fqdn"

How these authority-scheme values impact the format and values of authority-id and instance-id is described below.

The authority defined by an OUI, CID, Private Enterprise Number (including OUI used in “ops” and “os” authority scheme), or fully qualified domain name is responsible for ensuring the uniqueness of the resulting Endpoint ID. Uniqueness can be global, local, unique across all Endpoints, or unique among all Controllers or all Agents. For the “user” authority scheme, the assigning user or machine is responsible for ensuring uniqueness. For the “self” authority scheme, the Endpoint is responsible for ensuring uniqueness.

R-ARC.0 - A Controller and Agent within the same USP Domain MAY use the same Endpoint ID.

R-ARC.1 - Endpoints MUST tolerate the same Endpoint ID being used by an Agent and a Controller in the same USP Domain.

R-ARC.2 - Endpoints that share the same Endpoint ID MUST NOT communicate with each other via USP.

No conflict identification or resolution process is defined in USP to deal with a situation where an Endpoint ID is not unique among either all Agents or all Controllers in whatever USP Domain it operates. Therefore, a non-unique Endpoint ID will result in unpredictable behavior. An Endpoint ID that changes after having been used to identify an Endpoint can also result in unpredictable behavior.

Unless the authority responsible for assigning an Endpoint ID assigns meaning to an Agent and Controller having the same Endpoint ID, no meaning can be construed. That is, unless the assigning authority specifically states that an Agent and Controller with the same Endpoint ID are somehow related, no relationship can be assumed to exist.

R-ARC.2a - Endpoints MUST follow the authority-scheme requirements outlined in the following table:

R-ARC.3 - BBF OUI (00256D) and Private Enterprise Number (3561) are reserved for use in BBF documentation and BBF prototyping and MUST NOT be used by any entity other than BBF.

R-ARC.4 - The “proto” and “doc” authority-scheme values MUST NOT be used in production environments.

The “proto” and “doc” values are intended only for prototyping and documentation (tutorials, examples, etc.), respectively.

R-ARC.4a - If the authority-scheme fqdn is specified, the TLS certificates presented by this endpoint MUST contain a subjectAltName extension, allowing the use of the FQDN specified by the instance-id value.

2.2.2 Use of instance-id

R-ARC.5 - instance-id MUST be encoded using only the following characters:

    instance-id = unreserved / pct-encoded
    unreserved = ALPHA / DIGIT / "-" / "." / "_"
    pct-encoded = "%" HEXDIG HEXDIG

The above expression uses the Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF) notation of RFC 2234 [11], including the following core ABNF syntax rules defined by that specification: ALPHA (letters), DIGIT (decimal digits), HEXDIG (hexadecimal). It is taken from RFC 3986 [15] as the set of unreserved characters and percent-encoded characters that are acceptable for all components of a URI. This set is also allowed for use in URNs RFC 2141 [10], and all MTP headers.

R-ARC.6 - An instance-id value MUST be no more than 50 characters in length.

Shorter values are preferred, as end users could be exposed to Endpoint IDs. Long values tend to create a poor user experience when users are exposed to them.

2.3 Service Elements

“Service Element” is a general term referring to the set of Objects, Sub-Objects, Commands, Events, and Parameters that comprise a set of functionality that is manipulated by a Controller on an Agent. An Agent’s Service Elements are represented in a Data Model - the data model representing an Agent’s current state is referred to as its Instantiated Data Model, and the data model representing the Service Elements it supports is called its Supported Data Model. An Agent’s Data Model is referenced using Path Names.

2.4 Data Models

USP is designed to allow a Controller to manipulate Service Elements on an Agent using a standardized description of those Service Elements. This standardized description is known as an information model, and an information model that is further specified for use in a particular protocol is known as a “Data Model”.

Note: This should be understood by those familiar with CWMP. For those unfamiliar with that protocol, a Data Model is similar to a Management Information Base (MIB) used in the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) or YANG definitions used in NETCONF.

This version of the specification defines support for the following Data Model(s):

• The Device:2 Data Model [3]

This Data Model is specified in XML. The schema and normative requirements for defining Objects, Parameters, Events, and Commands for the Device:2 Data Model [3] are defined in Broadband Forum TR-106 [2].

The use of USP with any of the above data models creates some dependencies on specific Objects and Parameters that must be included for base functionality.

2.4.1 Instantiated Data Model

An Agent’s Instantiated Data Model represents the Service Elements (and their state) that are currently represented by the Agent. The Instantiated Data Model includes a set of Objects, and the Sub-Objects (“children”), Parameters, Events, and Commands associated with those Objects.

2.4.2 Supported Data Model

An Agent’s Supported Data Model represents the Service Elements that an Agent understands. It includes references to the Data Model(s) that define the Objects, Parameters, Events, and Commands implemented by the Service Elements the Agent represents.

2.4.3 Objects

Objects are data structures that are defined by their Sub-Objects, Parameters, Events, Commands, and creation criteria. They are used to model resources represented by the Agent. Objects may be Single-Instance or Multi-Instance (also called a “Table”).

2.4.3.1 Single-Instance Objects

Single-Instance Objects are not tables and do not have more than one instance of them in the Agent. They are usually used to group Service Element functionality together to allow for easy definition and addressing.

2.4.3.2 Multi-Instance Objects

Multi-Instance” Objects are those Objects that can be the subject of “create” and “delete” operations (using the Add and Delete Messages, respectively), with each instance of the Object represented in the Instantiated Data Model with an Instance Identifier (see below). A Multi-Instance Object is also referred to as a “Table”, with each instance of the Object referred to as a “Row”. Multi-Instance Objects can be also the subject of a search.

2.4.4 Parameters

Parameters define the attributes or variables of an Object. They are retrieved by a Controller using the read operations of USP and configured using the update operations of USP (the Get and Set Messages, respectively). Parameters have data types and are used to store values.

2.4.5 Commands

Commands define Object specific methods within the Data Model. A Controller can invoke these methods using the Operate Message (see Defined Operations Mechanism. Commands have associated input and output arguments that are defined in the Data Model and used when the method is invoked and returned.

2.4.6 Events

Events define Object specific notifications within the Data Model. A Controller can subscribe to these events by creating instances of the Subscription table, which are then sent in a Notify request by the Agent (see Notifications and Subscription Mechanism). Events may also have information associated with them that are delivered in the Notify Request - this information is defined with the Event in the Data Model.

2.5 Path Names

A Path Name is a fully qualified reference to an Object, Object Instance, or Parameter in an Agent’s instantiated or Supported Data Model. The syntax for Path Names is defined in TR-106 [2].

R-ARC.7 - All USP Endpoints MUST support the Path Name syntax as defined in TR-106 [2].

Path Names are represented by a hierarchy of Objects (“parents”) and Sub-Objects (“children”), separated by the dot “.” character, ending with a Parameter if referencing a Parameter Path. There are six different types of Path Names used to address the data model of an Agent:

1. Object Path - This is a Path Name of either a Single-Instance Object, or the Path Name to a Multi-Instance Object (i.e., a Data Model Table). An Object Path ends in a “.” Character (as specified in TR-106 [2]), except when used in a reference Parameter (see Reference Following). When addressing a Table in the Agent’s Supported Data Model that contains one or more Multi-Instance Objects in the Path Name, the sequence “{i}” is used as a placeholder (see The GetSupportedDM Message).

2. Object Instance Path - This is a Path Name to a Row in a Table in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model (i.e., an Instance of a Multi-Instance Object). It uses an Instance Identifier to address a particular Instance of the Object. An Object Instance Path ends in a “.” Character (as specified in TR-106 [2]), except when used in a reference Parameter (see Reference Following).

3. Parameter Path - This is a Path Name of a particular Parameter of an Object.

4. Command Path - This is a Path Name of an Object defined Operation.

5. Event Path - This is a Path Name of an Object defined Event.

6. Search Path - This is a Path Name that contains search criteria for addressing a set of Multi-Instance Objects and/or their Parameters. A Search Path may contain a Search Expression or Wildcard.

This creates two functions of Path Names: Addressing and Searching. The first five Path Names are used for addressing a particular Object, Parameter, Command, or Event. A Search Path uses Searching to return a set of Object Instances and/or their Parameters. When addressing, the expectation is that the Path Name will resolve to either 0 or 1 instance (and depending on the context, 0 instances could be an error). When searching, the expectation is that the Search Path will resolve to 0, 1, or many instances (and depending on the context, 0 instances is often not an error).

Note: When resolving a Path Name, the Agent is expected to use locally cached information and/or information that can be obtained rapidly and cheaply. Specifically, there is no expectation that the Agent would issue a network request in order to resolve a Path Name.

Note: Obviously only one form of addressing or searching can be used for a given Instance Identifier in a Path Name, but different forms of addressing can be used if more than one Instance Identifier needs to be specified in a Path Name.

For example, the following Path Name uses Unique Key Addressing for the Interface table but a Search Expression for the IPv4Address table to select Enabled IPv4 Addresses associated with the “eth0” IP Interface:

Device.IP.Interface.[Name=="eth0"].IPv4Address.[Status=="Enabled"].IPAddress

2.5.1 Relative Paths

Several USP Messages make use of Relative Paths to address Objects or Parameters. A Relative Path is used to address the child Objects and Parameters of a given Object Path or Object Instance Path. To build a Path Name using a Relative Path, a USP Endpoint uses a specified Object Path or Object Instance Path, and concatenates the Relative Path. This allows some efficiency in Requests and Responses when passing large numbers of repetitive Path Names. This Relative Path may include instance identifiers to Multi-Instance Objects.

For example, for an Object Path of:

Device.WiFi.Radio.1.

Relative Paths would include Parameters:

Status
SupportedStandards
OperatingStandards

Etc., as well as the following Sub-Object and its Parameters:

Stats.BytesSent
Stats.BytesReceived

Etc.

2.5.2 Using Instance Identifiers in Path Names

2.5.2.1 Addressing by Instance Number

Instance Number Addressing allows an Object Instance to be addressed by using its Instance Number in the Path Name. An Instance Number is expressed in the Path Name as a positive integer (>=1) with no additional surrounding characters. The Instance Number assigned by the Agent is arbitrary.

R-ARC.8 - The assigned Instance Number MUST persist unchanged until the Object Instance is subsequently deleted (either by the USP Delete Message or through some external mechanism). This implies that the Instance Number MUST persist across a reboot of the Agent, and that the Agent MUST NOT allow the Instance Number of an existing Object Instance to be modified by an external source.

For example, the Device.IP.Interface table entry with an Instance Number of 3 would be addressed with the following Path Name: Device.IP.Interface.3.

2.5.2.2 Addressing by Unique Key

Key-based addressing allows an Object Instance to be addressed by using a Unique Key (as defined in the Device:2 Data Model [3]) in the Path Name.

Note: Controller and Agent interoperability is greatly affected by an Agent’s implementation of Unique Keys. While this specification does not aim to overlap its requirements to those of TR-181 [3], it is imperative that an Agent implements Unique Keys for every Multi-Instance object in its Supported Data Model.

Unique Keys used for addressing are expressed in the Path Name by using square brackets surrounding a string that contains the name and value of the Unique Key Parameter using the equality operator (==).

For example, the Device.IP.Interface table has two separate unique keys: Name and Alias. It could be addressed with the following Path Names:

Device.IP.Interface.[Name=="eth0"]
Device.IP.Interface.[Alias=="WAN"]

If an Object has a multi-parameter unique key, then the Instance Identifier specifies all of the key’s Parameters using the AND (&&) logical operator (the Parameter order is not significant).

For example, the Device.NAT.PortMapping table has a multi-parameter unique key consisting of RemoteHost, ExternalPort, and Protocol. It could be addressed with the following Path Name:

Device.NAT.PortMapping.[RemoteHost==""&&ExternalPort==0&&Protocol=="TCP"].

Note: Addressing by Unique Key uses the same syntax as Searching with Expressions. If a multi-parameter unique key expression omits any of the key’s Parameters then it’s a search (which might match multiple instances) rather than an address (which can’t match multiple instances).

2.5.3 Searching

Searching is a means of matching 0, 1 or many instances of a Multi-Instance Object by using the properties of Object. Searching can be done with Expressions or Wildcards.

2.5.4 Searching with Expressions

Search Paths that use expressions are enclosed in square brackets as the Instance Identifier within a Path Name.

R-ARC.9 - An Agent MUST return Path Names that include all Object Instances that match the criteria of a given Search Path.

The basic format of a Search Path is:

Device.IP.Interface.[<expression>].Status

An Expression consists of one or more Expression Components that are concatenated by the AND (&&) logical operator (Note: the OR logical operator is not supported).

The basic format of a Search Path with the Expression element expanded is:

Device.IP.Interface.[<expression component>&&<expression component>].Status

An Expression Component is a combination of an Expression Parameter followed by an Expression Operator followed by an Expression Constant.

The basic format of a Search Path with the Expression Component element expanded is:

Device.IP.Interface.[<expression parameter><expression operator><expression constant>].Status

Further, this Relative Path can’t include any child tables. (Note: this is never necessary because any child tables that need to be referenced in the Search Path can and should have their own Expression)

An Expression Operator dictates how the Expression Component will be evaluated. The supported operators are equals (==), not equals (!=), contains (~=), less than (<), greater than (>), less than or equal (<=) and greater than or equal (>=).

An Expression Parameter will always be of the type defined in the data model. Expression operators will only evaluate for appropriate data types. The literal value representations for all data types are found in TR-106 [2]. For string and boolean types, and also the Unknown Time dateTime value (cf. TR-106 Section 3.2.1 [2]), only the ‘==’ and ‘!=’ operators are valid.

The ‘~=’ operator is only valid for comma-separated lists. It is used to check whether a list contains a certain element using an exact match of the element. The Expression Constant used in the Search Expression must be of the same type as the values in the list. For example, for a list of integers, the Expression Constant must also be an integer.

Note: Literal values are conceptually converted to a suitable internal representation before comparison. For example, int values 123, +123 and 0123 all represent the same value, and so do boolean values 1 and true.

The Expression Constant is the value that the Expression Parameter is being evaluated against; Expression Parameters must match the type as defined for the associated Parameter in the Device:2 Data Model [3].

Note: String values are enclosed in double quotes. In order to allow a string value to contain double quotes, quote characters can be percent-escaped as %22 (double quote). Therefore, a literal percent character has to be quoted as %25.

The use of whitespace on either side of an Expression Operator is allowed, but its support is not required. Controllers cannot assume that an Agent tolerates whitespace. An example of an Expression with whitespace would be [Type == "Normal"] (which would be [Type=="Normal"] without whitespace).

R-ARC.9a - Agents SHOULD tolerate whitespace on either side of an Expression Operator.

R-ARC.9b - Controllers SHOULD NOT include whitespace on either side of an Expression Operator.

2.5.4.0.1 Search Expression Examples

Valid Searches:

• Status for all IP Interfaces with a “Normal” type:

  Device.IP.Interface.[Type=="Normal"].Status

• IPv4 Addresses for all IP Interfaces with a Normal type and a Static addressing type:

  Device.IP.Interface.[Type=="Normal"].IPv4Address.[AddressingType=="Static"].IPAddress

• IPv4 Addresses for all IP Interfaces with a Normal type and Static addressing type that have at least 1 Error Sent:

  Device.IP.Interface.[Type=="Normal"&&Stats.ErrorsSent>0].IPv4Address.[AddressingType=="Static"].IPAddress

• Current profiles used by all DSL lines which are enabled:

  Device.DSL.Line.[Enable==true].CurrentProfile

  or

  Device.DSL.Line.[Enable==1].CurrentProfile

• All IPv6 Addresses of all interfaces with a lifetime expiring before 2021-06-06 08:00 UTC:

  Device.IP.Interface.*.IPv6Address.[ValidLifetime<2021-06-06T08:00:00Z].IPAddress

• All Parameters of all connected USB devices of class 0x08 (Mass Storage Device):

  Device.USB.USBHosts.Host.*.Device.[DeviceClass==08].

• All Parameters of all PCP servers with IPv6Firewall capabilities:

  Device.PCP.Client.*.Server.[Capabilities~="IPv6Firewall"].

• All Parameters of all PeriodicStatistics SampleSets that collected data for 5 seconds:

  Device.PeriodicStatistics.SampleSet.[SampleSeconds~=5].

Searches that are NOT VALID:

• Invalid because the Expression is empty:

  Device.IP.Interface.[].

• Invalid because the Expression Component has an Expression Parameter that descends into a child table (always need to use a separate Expression Variable for each child table instance):

  Device.IP.Interface.[Type=="Normal"&&IPv4Address.*.AddressingType=="Static"].Status

• Invalid because the search expression uses curly brackets:

  Device.IP.Interface.{Type=="Normal"}.Status

• Invalid because the Enable Parameter is of type boolean and not a string or derived from string:

  Device.DSL.Line.[Enable=="true"].CurrentProfile

2.5.5 Searching by Wildcard

Wildcard-based searching is a means of matching all currently existing Instances (whether that be 0, 1 or many instances) of a Multi-Instance Object by using a wildcard character “*” in place of the Instance Identifier.

R-ARC.10 - An Agent MUST return Path Names that include all Object Instances that are matched by the use of a Wildcard.

Examples:

All Parameters for all IP Interfaces that currently exist

Device.IP.Interface.*.

Type of each IP Interface that currently exists

Device.IP.Interface.*.Type

2.6 Other Path Decorators

2.6.1 Reference Following

The Device:2 Data Model [3] contains Parameters that reference other Parameters or Objects. The Reference Following mechanism allows references to Objects (not Parameters) to be followed from inside a single Path Name. Reference Following is indicated by a “+” character after the Parameter Path, referencing the Object followed by a “.”, optionally followed by a Relative Object or Parameter Path that are children of the Referenced Object.

For example, Device.NAT.PortMapping.{i}.Interface references an IP Interface Object (Device.IP.Interface.{i}.) and that Object has a Parameter called “Name”. With Reference Following, a Path Name of Device.NAT.PortMapping.1.Interface+.Name references the “Name” Parameter of the Interface Object that the PortMapping is associated with (i.e. it is the equivalent of using Device.IP.Interface.1.Name as the Path Name).

The steps that are executed by the Agent when following the reference in this example would be:

1. Retrieve the appropriate instance of the PortMapping Object based on the Instance Number Addressing information

2. Retrieve the value of the reference Parameter that contains the reference, Interface, which in this case has the value “Device.IP.Interface.1”

3. Replace the preceding Path Name (Device.NAT.PortMapping.1.Interface+) with the value retrieved in Step 2

4. Append the remainder of the Path Name (.Name), which builds the Path Name: Device.IP.Interface.1.Name

5. Use Device.IP.Interface.1.Name as the Path Name for the action

Note: It should be noted that according to the Device:2 Schema [2], reference Parameters:

• Always contain Path Names (not Search Expressions)
• When configured, can be configured using Path Names using Instance Number Addressing or Unique-Key Addressing, however:
• When the value of a reference Parameter is read, all Instance Identifiers are returned as Instance Numbers.

R-ARC.11 - A USP Agent MUST support the ability to use Key-based addressing in reference values.

For example, the following Path Names might illustrate a reference to the same Object (defined as having the Parameter named KeyParam as unique key) instance using an Instance Number and then a key value:

• Object.SomeReferenceParameter = “Object.FooObject.5”
• Object.SomeReferenceParameter = ‘Object.FooObject.[KeyParam==“KeyValueForInstance5”]’

In the first example, the reference points to the FooObject with Instance Number 5. In the second example, the reference points to the FooObject with a KeyParam value of “KeyValueForInstance5”.

R-ARC.12 - The following requirements relate to reference types and the associated Agent behavior:

• An Agent MUST reject an attempt to set a strong reference Parameter if the new value does not reference an existing Parameter or Object.
• An Agent MUST NOT reject an attempt to set a weak reference Parameter because the new value does not reference an existing Parameter or Object.
• An Agent MUST change the value of a non-list-valued strong reference Parameter to a null reference when a referenced Parameter or Object is deleted.
• An Agent MUST remove the corresponding list item from a list-valued strong reference Parameter when a referenced Parameter or Object is deleted.
• An Agent MUST NOT change the value of a weak reference Parameter when a referenced Parameter or Object is deleted.

2.6.1.1 List of References

The USP data models have Parameters whose values contain a list of references to other Parameters or Objects. This section explains how the Reference Following mechanism allows those references to be followed from inside a single Path Name. The Reference Following syntax as defined above still applies, but the “+” character is preceded by a means of referencing a list item or items.

• The additional syntax consists of a “#” character followed by a list item number (1-indexed), which is placed between the Parameter name and the “+” character.

  • The “#” and list item number are optional. If they are omitted, the first list item is used, i.e., “ReferenceParameter+” means the same as “ReferenceParameter#1+”.

• To follow all references in the list, use a wildcard (“*”) character instead of a list item number, i.e., “ReferenceParameter#*+”.

For example, Device.WiFi.SSID.{i}.LowerLayers references a list of Wi-Fi Radio Object (defined as Device.WiFi.Radio.{i}.) Instances that are associated with the SSID. This Object has a Name Parameter; so when following the first reference in the list of references a Path Name of Device.WiFi.SSID.1.LowerLayers#1+.Name references the Name of the Wi-Fi Radio associated with this SSID Object Instance.

The steps that are executed by the Agent when following the reference in this example would be:

1. Retrieve the appropriate Device.WiFi.SSID.{i} instance based on the Instance Number Addressing information

2. Retrieve the value of the LowerLayers Parameter, which in this case has a value of “Device.WiFi.Radio.1, Device.WiFi.Radio.2”

3. Retrieve the first list item within the value retrieved in Step 2 (i.e., “Device.WiFi.Radio.1”)

4. Replace the preceding Path Name (Device.WiFi.SSID.1.LowerLayers#1+) with the value retrieved in Step 3

5. Append the remainder of the Path Name (.Name), resulting in a Path Name of: Device.WiFi.Radio.1.Name

6. Use Device.WiFi.Radio.1.Name as the Path Name for the action

2.6.1.2 Search Expressions and Reference Following

The Reference Following and Search Expression mechanisms can be combined.

For example, reference the Signal Strength of all Wi-Fi Associated Devices using the “ac” Operating Standard on the “MyHome” SSID, you would use the Path Name:

Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.[SSIDReference+.SSID=="MyHome"].AssociatedDevice.[OperatingStandard=="ac"].SignalStrength

2.6.2 Operations and Command Path Names

The Operate Message allows a USP Controller to execute Commands defined in the USP data models. Commands are synchronous or asynchronous operations that don’t fall into the typical REST-based concepts of CRUD-N that have been incorporated into the protocol as specific Messages. Commands are addressed like Parameter Paths that end with parentheses “()” to symbolize that it is a Command.

For example: Device.IP.Interface.[Name=="eth0"].Reset()

2.6.3 Event Path Names

The Notify request allows a type of generic event (called Event) message that allows a USP Agent to emit events defined in the USP data models. Events are defined in and related to Objects in the USP data models like commands. Events are addressed like Parameter Paths that end with an exclamation point “!” to symbolize that it is an Event.

For example: Device.Boot!

2.7 Data Model Path Grammar

Expressed as a Backus-Naur Form (BNF) for context-free grammars, the Path Name lexical rules for referencing the Instantiated Data Model are:

idmpath   ::= objpath | parampath | cmdpath | evntpath
objpath   ::= name '.' (name (('.' inst)|(reffollow '.' name) )? '.')*
parampath ::= objpath name
cmdpath   ::= objpath  name '()'
evntpath  ::= objpath  name '!'
inst      ::= posnum | expr | '*'
expr      ::= '[' (exprcomp ( '&&' exprcomp )*) ']'
exprcomp  ::= relpath oper value
relpath   ::= name (reffollow? '.' name )*
reffollow ::=  ( '#' (posnum | '*') '+' )|  '+'
oper      ::= '==' | '!=' | '~=' | '<' | '>' | '<=' | '>='
value     ::= literal | number
name      ::= [A-Za-z_] [A-Za-z_0-9]*
literal   ::= '"' [^"]* '"'
posnum    ::= [1-9] [0-9]*
number    ::= '0' | ( '-'? posnum )

The Path Name lexical rules for referencing the Supported Data Model are:

sdmpath   ::= name '.' ( name '.' ( ( posnum | '{i}' ) '.' )? )* name?
name      ::= [A-Za-z_] [A-Za-z_0-9]*
posnum    ::= [1-9] [0-9]*

2.7.1 BNF Diagrams for Instantiated Data Model

idmpath:

objpath:

referenced by:

• cmdpath
• evntpath
• idmpath
• parampath

parampath:

referenced by:

• idmpath

cmdpath:

referenced by:

• idmpath

evntpath:

referenced by:

• idmpath

inst:

referenced by:

• objpath

expr:

referenced by:

• inst

exprcomp:

referenced by:

• expr

relpath:

referenced by:

• exprcomp

reffollow:

referenced by:

• objpath
• relpath

oper:

referenced by:

• exprcomp

value:

referenced by:

• exprcomp

name:

referenced by:

• cmdpath
• evntpath
• objpath
• parampath
• relpath

literal:

referenced by:

• value

number:

referenced by:

• value

posnum:

referenced by:

• inst
• number
• reffollow

2.7.2 BNF Diagrams for Supported Data Model

sdmpath:

name:

referenced by:

• sdmpath

posnum:

referenced by:

• sdmpath

3 Discovery and Advertisement

• 3.1 Controller Information
• 3.2 Required Agent Information
• 3.3 Use of DHCP for Acquiring Controller Information
• 3.4 Use of DHCP for Exchanging GatewayInfo
• 3.5 Using mDNS
• 3.6 Using DNS
• 3.7 DNS-SD Records
• 3.8 Using the SendOnBoardRequest() operation and OnBoardRequest notification

Discovery is the process by which USP Endpoints learn the USP properties and MTP connection details of another Endpoint, either for sending USP Messages in the context of an existing relationship (where the Controller’s USP Endpoint Identifier, credentials, and authorized Role are all known to the Agent) or for the establishment of a new relationship.

Advertisement is the process by which USP Endpoints make their presence known (or USP Endpoint presence is made known) to other USP Endpoints.

3.1 Controller Information

An Agent that has a USP relationship with a Controller needs to know that Controller’s Endpoint Identifier, credentials, and authorized Role.

An Agent that has a USP relationship with a Controller needs to obtain information that allows it to determine at least one MTP, IP address, port, and resource path (if required by the MTP) of the Controller. This may be a URL with all of these components, a FQDN that resolves to provide all of these components via DNS-SD records, or mDNS discovery in the LAN.

Example mechanisms for configuration include but are not limited to:

• Pre-configured in firmware
• Configured by an already-known-and-trusted Controller
• Configured through a separate bootstrap mechanism such as a user interface or other management interface.
• DHCP, DNS, or mDNS.

R-DIS.0 - An Agent that supports USP configuration of Controllers MUST implement the Device.LocalAgent.Controller Object as defined in the Device:2 Data Model [3].

The Agent can be pre-configured with trusted root certificates or trusted certificates to allow authentication of Controllers. Other trust models are also possible, where an Agent without a current Controller association will trust the first discovered Controller, or where the Agent has a UI that allows a User to indicate whether a discovered Controller is authorized to configure that Agent.

3.2 Required Agent Information

A Controller that has a relationship with an Agent needs to know the Agent’s Endpoint Identifier, connectivity information for the Agent’s MTP(s), and credentials.

Controllers acquire this information upon initial connection by an Agent, though a LAN based Controller may acquire an Agent’s MTP information through mDNS Discovery. It is each Controller’s responsibility to maintain a record of known Agents.

3.3 Use of DHCP for Acquiring Controller Information

DHCP can be employed as a method for Agents to discover Controllers. The DHCPv4 Vendor-Identifying Vendor-Specific Information Option [14] (option code 125) and DHCPv6 Vendor-specific Information Option [13] (option code 17) can be used to provide information to Agents about a single Controller. The options that may be returned by DNS are shown below. Description of these options can be found in the Device:2 Data Model [3].

R-DIS.1 - If an Agent is configured to request Controller DHCP information, the Agent MUST include in its DHCPv4 requests a DHCPv4 V-I Vendor Class Option (option 124) and in its DHCPv6 requests a DHCPv6 Vendor Class (option 16). This option MUST include the Broadband Forum Enterprise Number (3561 decimal, 0x0DE9 hex) as an enterprise-number, and the string “usp” (all lower case) in a vendor-class-data instance associated with this enterprise-number.

R-DIS.1a - The Agent MUST decode all received options as strings (provisioning code, wait interval, and interval multiplier are not decoded as numeric fields).

R-DIS.1b - The Agent MUST interpret a received URL or FQDN of the Controller as either an absolute URL or FQDN.

R-DIS.1c - If the Agent receives an encapsulated option value that is null terminated, the Agent MUST accept the value provided, and MUST NOT interpret the null character as part of the value.

The Role to associate with a DHCP-discovered Controller is programmatically determined (see Authentication and Authorization).

Note: Requirement R-DIS.2 was removed in USP 1.2.

See Using DNS for requirements on resolving URLs and FQDNs provided by DHCP.

ISPs are advised to limit the use of DHCP for configuration of a Controller to situations in which the security of the link between the DHCP server and the Agent can be assured by the service provider. Since DHCP does not itself incorporate a security mechanism, it is a good idea to use pre-configured certificates or other means of establishing trust between the Agent and a Controller discovered by DHCP.

3.3.1 DHCP Options for Controller Discovery

3.4 Use of DHCP for Exchanging GatewayInfo

This section contains a set of USP requirements related to a mechanism that was originally defined in the CPE WAN Management Protocol [1] (CWMP), which provides a way for a CWMP Gateway and an End Device to exchange information via DHCP options to populate data model objects with their reciprocal information. The purpose of populating this information is to provides an ACS or USP Controller with the ability to determine whether the Gateway and Device are on the same LAN. The USP requirements defined in this section identify what USP-enabled devices (Gateways and End Devices) need to do to interoperate with CWMP-enabled devices without changing any CWMP functionality, so it is mostly a replication of those CWMP requirements from a USP-enabled device perspective.

3.4.1 Exchanging DHCP Options

This section outlines the DHCP information USP Agents exchange to provide details about the devices on the LAN, as well as the Service Elements that are updated. This allows a USP Agent to recognize a CWMP Client that supports the Device-Gateway Association within the LAN, and a CWMP Client to recognize a USP Agent.

R-DIS.2a - When an Agent sends a DHCPv4 requests (DHCPDISCOVER, DHCPREQUEST, and DHCPINFORM) or DHCPv6 requests (SOLICIT, REQUEST, RENEW, and INFORMATION-REQUEST) it MUST include the Encapsulation Options for requests below.

3.4.2 DHCP Encapsulated Vendor-Specific Option-Data fields for DHCP requests

These Encapsulated Options are carried in DHCPv4 V-I Vendor Class Option (option 125) or DHCPv6 V-I Vendor Class Option (option 17) with an element identified with the IANA Enterprise Number for the Broadband Forum that follows the format defined below. The IANA Enterprise Number for the Broadband Forum is 3561 in decimal (the ADSL Forum entry in the IANA Private Enterprise Numbers registry).

R-DIS.2b - If an Agent recieves the encapsulation options for requests above, then it MUST respond with the Encapsulated Options for a response in the DHCPv4 responses (DHCPOFFER and DHCPACK) and DHCPv6 responses (ADVERTISE and REPLY) below. The responses are only included if the request options are recieved.

3.4.3 DHCP Encapsulated Vendor-Specific Option-Data fields for Agent

These Encapsulated Options are carried in DHCPv4 V-I Vendor Class Option (option 125) or DHCPv6 V-I Vendor Class Option (option 17) with an element identified with the IANA Enterprise Number for the Broadband Forum that follows the format defined below. The IANA Enterprise Number for the Broadband Forum is 3561 in decimal (the ADSL Forum entry in the IANA Private Enterprise Numbers registry).

R-DIS.2c - When an Agent receives a DHCPv4 response (DHCPOFFER or DHCPACK) or a DHCPv6 response (ADVERTISE or REPLY) with this information, it MUST populate the Device.GatewayInfo Object as defined in the Device:2 Data Model [3]. Specifically, it MUST set the the parameters ManufacturerOUI, ProductClass and SerialNumber, if present and ManagementProtocol MUST be set to “CWMP”. If any of the parameters are not present then they MUST be set to an empty string. If the DHCP release expires, or the USP Endpoint doesnt recieve this information, the Parameters in the Device.GatewayInfo Object MUST be set to an empty strings.

R-DIS.2d - When an Agent performs mDNS discovery (see Discovery and Advertisement) and recieves a PTR record (see DNS-SD Records) that match the same IP address as the DHCP response from (R-DIS.2c), it MUST also set the Device.GatewayInfo.ManagementProtocol Parameter to “USP”, and Device.GatewayInfo.EndpointID Parameter to the USP EndpointID received in the PTR record.

3.5 Using mDNS

R-DIS.3 - If mDNS discovery is supported by a USP Endpoint, the USP Endpoint MUST implement mDNS client and server functionality as defined in RFC 6762 [20].

R-DIS.4 - If mDNS advertisement for a MTP is enabled on an Endpoint, the Endpoint MUST listen for messages using that MTP from other Endpoints requesting establishment of USP communication over that MTP.

R-DIS.5 - If mDNS is enabled, a USP Endpoint MUST use mDNS to resolve a FQDN with domain “.local.”.

In general, the expectation is that Agents will advertise themselves so they will be discoverable by Controllers. Controllers are not expected to advertise themselves, but are expected to discover Agents and respond to applicable mDNS requests from Agents. Agents will use mDNS to resolve a Controller “.local.” FQDN (and get DNS-SD records) when the Agent needs to send a Notification to that Controller.

3.6 Using DNS

Requirements for implementation of a DNS client and configuration of the DNS client with DNS server address(es) (through static configuration, DHCPv4, DHCPv6, or Router Solicitation) are not provided. These are sufficiently well-known that they were not considered necessary for this specification. If the Agent knows of no DNS Server, it cannot do DNS resolution.

R-DIS.6 - If DNS is enabled, an Endpoint MUST use DNS to request IP address(es) (A and/or AAAA records, depending on confiured IP stacks) for a FQDN with domain other than ones used for mDNS (R-DIS.5).

If the Endpoint is programmatically set to request other resource records, it will request those, too.

R-DIS.7 - If the Agent is resolving an FQDN for a Controller, and the MTP or resource path are unknown, the Agent MUST request DNS-SD information (PTR, SRV and TXT resource records) in addition to A, AAAA or other resource records it is programmatically set to request.

3.7 DNS-SD Records

DNS Service Discovery (DNS-SD) RFC 6763 [21] is a mechanism for naming and structuring DNS resource records to facilitate service discovery. It can be used to create DNS records for USP Endpoints, so they can be discoverable via DNS PTR queries RFC 1035 [8] or Multicast DNS (mDNS) RFC 6762 [20]. DNS-SD uses DNS SRV and TXT records to express information about “services”, and DNS PTR records to help locate the SRV and TXT records. To discover these DNS records, DNS or mDNS queries can be used. RFC 6762 [20] recommends using the query type PTR to get both the SRV and TXT records. A and AAAA records will also be returned, for address resolution.

The format of a DNS-SD Service Instance Name (which is the resource record (RR) Name of the DNS SRV and TXT records) is “<Instance>.<Service>.<Domain>”. <Instance> will be the USP Endpoint Identifier of the USP Endpoint.

R-DIS.8 - USP Endpoint DNS-SD records MUST include the USP Endpoint Identifier of the USP Endpoint as the DNS-SD Service Instance Name.

Service Name values registered by BBF with IANA used by USP are shown below. As described in RFC 6763 [21], the <Service> part of a Service Instance Name is constructed from these values as “_<Service Name>._<Transport Protocol>” (e.g., “_usp-agt-ws._tcp”).

3.7.1 IANA-Registered USP Service Names

DNS PTR records with a service subtype identifier (e.g., ._<subtype>._usp-agt-ws._tcp.<Domain>) in the RR can be used to provide searchable simple (single layer) functional groupings of USP Agents. The registry of subtypes for Service Names registered by BBF is listed at www.broadband-forum.org/assignments. DNS SRV and TXT records can be pointed to by multiple PTR records, which allow a USP Endpoint to potentially be discoverable as belonging to various functional groupings.

DNS TXT records allow for a small set of additional information to be included in the reply sent to the querier. This information cannot be used as search criteria. The registry of TXT record attributes for BBF Service Names are listed at www.broadband-forum.org/assignments.

R-DIS.9 - Agent DNS-SD records MUST include a TXT record with the “path” and “name” attributes.

R-DIS.10 - The “name” attribute included in the Agent DNS-SD records MUST be identical to the FriendlyName Parameter defined in the Device:2 Data Model [3], if the FriendlyName Parameter is implemented.

R-DIS.11 - Controller DNS-SD records MUST include a TXT record with the “path” attribute.

The “path” attribute is dependent on each MTP.

R-DIS.11a - If a USP Endpoint requires MTP encryption to be used when connecting to its advertised service, it MUST include the “encrypt” parameter in the TXT record.

The “encrypt” parameter is Boolean and does not require a value to be specified. Its presence means MTP encryption is required when connecting to the advertised service. Its absence means MTP encryption is not required when connecting to the advertised service.

The TXT record can include other attributes defined in the TXT record attribute registry, as well.

Whether a particular USP Endpoint responds to DNS or mDNS queries or populates (through configuration or mDNS advertisement) their information in a local DNS-SD server can be a configured option that can be enabled/disabled, depending on the intended deployment usage scenario.

3.7.2 Example Controller Unicast DNS-SD Resource Records

    ; One PTR record for each supported MTP
    _usp-ctr-ws._tcp.host.example.com      PTR <USP ID>._usp-ctr-ws._tcp.example.com.

    ; One SRV+TXT (DNS-SD Service Instance) record for each supported MTP
    <USP ID>._usp-ctr-ws._tcp.example.com.   SRV 0 1 5684 host.example.com.
    <USP ID>._usp-ctr-ws._tcp.example.com.   TXT "<length byte>path=<pathname><length byte>encrypt"

    ; Controller A and AAAA records
    host.example.com.  A      192.0.2.200
    host.example.com.  AAAA   2001:db8::200

3.7.3 Example Agent Multicast DNS-SD Resource Records

    ; One PTR record (DNS-SD Service) for each supported MTP
    _usp-agt-ws._tcp                 PTR <USP ID>._usp-agt-ws._tcp.local.

    ; One PTR record (DNS-SD Service Subtype) for each supported MTP per device type
    _iot-device._sub._usp-agt-ws._tcp    PTR <USP ID>._usp-agt-ws._tcp.local.
    _gateway._sub._usp-agt-ws._tcp       PTR <USP ID>._usp-agt-ws._tcp.local.

    ; One SRV+TXT record (DNS-SD Service Instance) for each supported MTP
    <USP ID>._usp-agt-ws._tcp.local.    SRV 0 1 5684 <USP ID>.local.
    <USP ID>._usp-agt-ws._tcp.local.    TXT "<length byte>path=<pathname><length byte>name=kitchen light<length byte>encrypt"

    ; Agent A and AAAA records
    <USP ID>.local.  A      192.0.2.100
    <USP ID>.local.  AAAA   2001:db8::100

3.7.4 Example Controller Multicast DNS-SD Resource Records

LAN Controllers do not need to have PTR records, as they will only be queried using the DNS-SD instance identifier of the Controller.

    ; One SRV+TXT record (DNS-SD Service Instance) for each supported MTP
    <USP ID>._usp-ctr-ws._tcp.local.    SRV 0 1 5683 <USP ID>.local.
    <USP ID>._usp-ctr-ws._tcp.local.    TXT "<length byte>path=<pathname>"

    ; Controller A and AAAA records
    <USP ID>.local.  A      192.0.2.200
    <USP ID>.local.  AAAA   2001:db8::200

3.8 Using the SendOnBoardRequest() operation and OnBoardRequest notification

An “OnBoardRequest” notification can be sent by an Agent to a Controller to begin an on-boarding process (for example, when the Agent first comes online and discovers a Controller using DHCP). Its use is largely driven by policy, but there is a mechanism other Controllers can use to ask an Agent to send “OnBoardRequest” to another Controller: the SendOnBoardRequest() command is defined in the Device:2 Data Model [3]. See Notification Types for additional information about the OnBoardRequest notification.

4 Message Transfer Protocols

• 4.1 Generic Requirements
• 4.2 CoAP Binding (OBSOLETED)
• 4.3 WebSocket Binding
• 4.4 STOMP Binding
• 4.5 MQTT Binding
• 4.6 UNIX Domain Socket Binding

USP messages are sent between Endpoints over one or more Message Transfer Protocols.

Note: Message Transfer Protocol was a term adopted to avoid confusion with the term “Transport”, which is often overloaded to include both application layer (e.g. WebSocket) and the actual OSI Transport layer (e.g. TCP). Throughout this document, Message Transfer Protocol (MTP) refers to application layer transport.

4.1 Generic Requirements

The requirements in this section are common to all MTPs.

4.1.1 Supporting Multiple MTPs

Agents and Controllers may support more than one MTP. When an Agent supports multiple MTPs, the Agent may be configured with Parameters for reaching a particular Controller across more than one MTP. When an Agent needs to send a Notification to such a Controller, the Agent can be designed (or possibly configured) to select a particular MTP, to try sending the Notification to the Controller on all MTPs simultaneously, or to try MTPs sequentially. USP has been designed to allow Endpoints to recognize when they receive a duplicate Message and to discard any duplicates. Endpoints will always send responses on the same MTP where the Message was received.

4.1.2 Securing MTPs

This specification places the following requirement for encrypting MTP headers and payloads on USP implementations that are intended to be used in environments where USP Messages will be transported across the Internet:

R-MTP.0 – The Message Transfer Protocol MUST use secure transport when USP Messages cross inter-network boundaries.

For example, it may not be necessary to use MTP layer security when within an end-user’s local area network (LAN). It is necessary to secure transport to and from the Internet, however. If the device implementer can reasonably expect Messages to be transported across the Internet when the device is deployed, then the implementer needs to ensure the device supports encryption of all MTP protocols.

MTPs that operate over TCP will be expected to implement, at least, TLS 1.2 as defined in [33].

Specific requirements for implementing these are provided in the individual MTP sections.

R-MTP.1 – When TLS is used to secure an MTP, an Agent MUST require the MTP peer to provide an X.509 certificate.

R-MTP.2 - An Agent capable of obtaining absolute time SHOULD wait until it has accurate absolute time before establishing TLS encryption to secure MTP communication. If an Agent for any reason is unable to obtain absolute time, it can establish TLS without waiting for accurate absolute time. If an Agent chooses to establish TLS before it has accurate absolute time (or if it does not support absolute time), it MUST ignore those components of the received X.509 certificate that involve absolute time, e.g. not-valid-before and not-valid-after certificate restrictions.

R-MTP.3 - An Agent that has obtained an accurate absolute time MUST validate those components of the received X.509 certificate that involve absolute time.

R-MTP.4 - When an Agent receives an X.509 certificate while establishing TLS encryption of the MTP, the Agent MUST execute logic that achieves the same results as in the mandatory decision flow elements (identified with “MUST”) from Figure 2.

R-MTP.4a - When an Agent receives an X.509 certificate while establishing TLS encryption of the MTP, the Agent SHOULD execute logic that achieves the same results as in the optional decision flow elements (identified with “OPT”) from Figure 2.

Note: The .local and .home.arpa domains are defined by the IETF as “Special-Use Domains” for use inside any LAN. It is not possible for an external Certificate Authority (CA) to vouch for whether a LAN device “owns” a particular name in one of these domains (inside a particular LAN) and these LAN networks have no internal CA. Therefore, it is not possible to validate FQDNs within these domains. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) maintains a registry of Special Use Domains.

4.1.3 USP Record Encapsulation

The USP Record is defined as the Message Transfer Protocol (MTP) payload, encapsulating a sequence of datagrams that comprise the USP Message as well as providing additional metadata needed for integrity protection, payload protection and delivery of fragmented USP Messages. Additional metadata fields are used to identify the E2E session context, determine the state of the segmentation and reassembly function, acknowledge received datagrams, request retransmissions, and determine the type of encoding and security mechanism used to encode the USP Message.

When not explicitly set or included in a USP Record or USP Message, the fields have a default value based on the type of field:

• For strings, the default value is the empty string.
• For bytes, the default value is empty bytes.
• For bools, the default value is false.
• For numeric types, the default value is zero.
• For enums, the default value is the first defined enum value, which must be 0.
• For a oneof field, none of the allowed values are assumed if the field is absent.
• repeated fields can be included any number of times, including zero.

If there is no requirement stating a field must be present, it is not necessary to include the field in a sent Record or Message. The receiving Endpoint will use default values for fields not included in a received Record or Message.

R-MTP.4b - Any field that is noted as “Required” in its description MUST be sent.

A Record or Message without a required field will fail to be processed by a receiving Endpoint. For additional information, default values (when fields are missing) are described in the “Default Values” section of Protocol Buffers [4].

4.1.3.1 Record Definition

Note: This version of the specification defines the USP Record in Protocol Buffers v3. This part of the specification may change to a more generic description (normative and non-normative) if further encodings are specified in future versions.

string version

Required. Version (Major.Minor) of the USP Protocol (e.g., “1.3”).

Note: The version field is used for USP Endpoints to set expectations about their behavior for other USP Endpoints. A USP Endpoint that receives a Record indicating a version higher than it supports can expect to receive messages it may not understand or encounter other unexpected behavior. USP Endpoints are expected to handle these inconsistencies gracefully (For example, using the 7001 Message Not Supported Error).

string to_id

Required. Receiving/Target USP Endpoint Identifier.

string from_id

Required. Originating/Source USP Endpoint Identifier.

enum PayloadSecurity payload_security

Optional. An enumeration of type PayloadSecurity. When the payload is present, this indicates the protocol or mechanism used to secure the payload (if any) of the USP Message. The value of TLS12 means TLS 1.2 or later (with backward compatibility to TLS 1.2) will be used to secure the payload (see TLS Payload Encapsulation for more information).

Valid values are:

PLAINTEXT (0)
TLS12 (1)

bytes mac_signature

Optional. When integrity protection of non-payload fields is performed, this is the message authentication code or signature used to ensure the integrity of the non-payload fields of the USP Record.

bytes sender_cert

Optional. The PEM encoded certificate, or certificate chain, of the sending USP Endpoint used to provide the signature in the mac_signature field, when integrity protection is used and the payload security mechanism doesn’t provide the mechanism to generate the mac_signature.

oneof record_type

Required. This field contains one of the types given below:

NoSessionContextRecord no_session_context

SessionContextRecord session_context

WebSocketConnectRecord websocket_connect

MQTTConnectRecord mqtt_connect

STOMPConnectRecord stomp_connect

UDSConnectRecord uds_connect

DisconnectRecord disconnect

4.1.3.1.1 NoSessionContextRecord fields

The following describe the fields included if record_type is no_session_context.

bytes payload

Required. The USP Message.

4.1.3.1.2 SessionContextRecord fields

The following describe the fields included if record_type is session_context.

uint64 session_id

Required. This field is the Session Context identifier.

uint64 sequence_id

Required. Datagram sequence identifier. Used only for exchange of USP Records with an E2E Session Context. The field is initialized to 1 when starting a new Session Context and incremented after each sent USP Record.

Note: Endpoints maintain independent values for received and sent sequence_id for a Session Context, based respectively on the number of received and sent Records.

uint64 expected_id

Required. This field contains the next sequence_id the sender is expecting to receive, which implicitly acknowledges to the recipient all transmitted datagrams less than expected_id. Used only for exchange of USP Records with an E2E Session Context.

uint64 retransmit_id

Optional. Used to request a USP Record retransmission by a USP Endpoint to request a missing USP Record using the missing USP Record’s anticipated sequence_id. Used only for exchange of USP Records with an E2E Session Context. Will be received as 0 when no retransmission is requested.

enum PayloadSARState payload_sar_state

Optional. An enumeration of type PayloadSARState. When payload is present, indicates the segmentation and reassembly state represented by the USP Record. Valid values are:

NONE (0)
BEGIN (1)
INPROCESS (2)
COMPLETE (3)

enum PayloadSARState payloadrec_sar_state

Optional. An enumeration of type PayloadSARState. When payload segmentation is being performed, indicates the segmentation and reassembly state represented by an instance of the payload datagram. If payload_sar_state = 0 (or is not included or not set), then payloadrec_sar_state will be 0 (or not included or not set). Valid values are:

NONE (0)
BEGIN (1)
INPROCESS (2)
COMPLETE (3)

repeated bytes payload

Optional. This repeated field is a sequence of zero, one, or multiple datagrams. It contains the Message, in either PLAINTEXT or encrypted format. When using TLS12 payload security, this contains the encrypted TLS records, either sequentially in a single payload field, or divided into multiple payload fields. When using PLAINTEXT payload security there will be a single payload field for any Message being sent.

4.1.3.1.3 WebSocketConnectRecord fields

This Record type has no fields.

4.1.3.1.4 MQTTConnectRecord fields

The following describe the fields included if record_type is mqtt_connect.

enum MQTTVersion version

Required. The MQTT protocol version used by the USP Endpoint to send this Record. Valid values are:

V3_1_1 (0)
V5 (1)

string subscribed_topic

Required. A MQTT Topic where the USP Endpoint sending this Record can be reached (i.e. a non-wildcarded MQTT Topic it is subscribed to).

4.1.3.1.5 STOMPConnectRecord fields

The following describe the fields included if record_type is stomp_connect.

enum STOMPVersion version

Required. The STOMP protocol version used by the USP Endpoint to send this Record. Valid values are:

V1_2 (0)

string subscribed_destination

Required. A STOMP Destination where the USP Endpoint sending this Record can be reached (i.e. a STOMP Destination it is subscribed to).

4.1.3.1.6 UDSConnectRecord fields

This Record type has no fields.

4.1.3.1.7 DisconnectRecord fields

The following describe the fields included if record_type is disconnect.

fixed32 reason_code

Optional. A code identifying the reason of the disconnect.

string reason

Optional. A string describing the reason of the disconnect.

4.1.4 USP Record Errors

A variety of errors can occur while establishing and during a USP communication flow. In order to signal such problems to the other Endpoint while processing an incoming E2E Session Context Record or a Record containing a Message of the type Request, an Endpoint encountering such a problem can create a USP Record containing a Message of type Error and transmit it over the same MTP and connection which was used when the error was encountered.

For this mechanism to work and to prevent information leakage, the sender causing the problem needs to be able to create a valid USP Record containing a valid source Endpoint ID and a correct destination Endpoint ID. In addition a MTP specific return path needs to be known so the error can be delivered.

R-MTP.5 - A recipient of an erroneous USP Record MUST create a Record with a Message of type Error and deliver it to sender if the source Endpoint ID is valid, the destination Endpoint ID is its own, the Record contains a USP Message of type Request, the Message ID can be extracted, and a MTP-specific return path is known. If any of those criteria on the erroneous Record are not met, it MUST be ignored.

The following error codes (in the range 7100-7199) are defined to allow the Error to be more specifically indicated. Additional requirements for these error codes are included in the specific MTP definition, where appropriate.

4.1.5 Connect and Disconnect Record Types

A Connect Record is a subgroup of Record types (record_type), there is one Record type per USP MTP in this subgroup. These Records are used to assert the USP Agent presence and exchange needed information for proper start of communication between Agent and Controller, the presence information is specifically useful when using brokered MTPs.

R-MTP.6 - If a USP Agent has the necessary information to create a Connect Record, it MUST send the associated Connect Record, specific for the MTP in use, after it has successfully established an MTP communications channel to a USP Controller.

The DisconnectRecord is a Record type used by a USP Agent to indicate it wishes to end an on-going communication with a USP Controller. It can be used for presence information, for sending supplemental information about the disconnect event and to force the remote USP Endpoint to purge some cached information about the current session.

R-MTP.7 - The USP Agent SHOULD send a DisconnectRecord to the USP Controller before disconnecting from an MTP communications channel. Upon receiving a DisconnectRecord, a USP Controller MUST clear all cached information relative to an existing E2E Session Context with that Endpoint, including the information that a previous E2E Session Context was established.

It is not mandatory for a USP Endpoint to close its MTP connection after sending or receiving a DisconnectRecord.

R-MTP.8 - After sending or receiving a DisconnectRecord and maintaining the underlying MTP communications channel or after establishing a new MTP communications channel, the USP Endpoint MUST send or receive the correct Connect Record type before exchanging any other USP Records.

R-MTP.9 - A DisconnectRecord SHOULD include the reason_code and reason fields with an applicable code from USP Record Errors.

4.2 CoAP Binding (OBSOLETED)

Note: The CoAP MTP was deprecated in USP 1.2. Due to the way it is specified this MTP can only be used in local area networks under narrow conditions. Please see Section 4.3 for a suitable alternative.

Note: The CoAP MTP was obsoleted in USP 1.3 as a natural progression from being deprecated in USP 1.2.

The Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) MTP transfers USP Records between USP Endpoints using the CoAP protocol as defined in RFC 7252 [36]. Messages that are transferred between CoAP clients and servers utilize a request/response messaging interaction based on RESTful architectural principles. The following figure depicts the transfer of the USP Records between USP Endpoints.

In this example, a USP Request is encoded within a USP Record and encapsulated within a CoAP request message. When a USP Endpoint receives the CoAP request message the USP Endpoint immediately sends a CoAP response message (with no USP Record) to indicate receipt of the message. A USP Response encoded within a USP Record is encapsulated in a new CoAP request message. When the USP Endpoint receives the USP Response, it sends a CoAP response message that indicates receipt of the message. Therefore, all Endpoints supporting CoAP will implement both CoAP client and server.

As noted in the definition of a USP Request, this USP Record either requests the Agent perform some action (create, update, delete, operate, etc.), requests information about an Agent or one or more Service Elements, or acts as a means to deliver Notifications from the Agent to the Controller. Notifications will only cause a USP Response to be generated if specified in the Notification Request. However, the CoAP response will always be sent.

4.2.1 Mapping USP Endpoints to CoAP URIs

Section 6 of RFC 7262 [36] discusses the URI schemes for identifying CoAP resources and provides a means of locating the resource. These resources are organized hierarchically and governed by a CoAP server listening for CoAP requests on a given port. USP Endpoints are one type of CoAP resource that is identified and discovered.

R-COAP.0 - As the USP Endpoint is a resource governed by a CoAP server, the CoAP server MUST also be identified as defined in section 6 of RFC 7262 [36].

R-COAP.1 - A USP Endpoint MUST be represented as a CoAP resource with the following resource attributes:

• Identifier within the CoAP server (uri-path)
• Resource type (rt): “bbf.usp.endpoint”
• Interface (if): “bbf.usp.c” for USP Controller or “bbf.usp.a” for USP Agent

The identifier within the CoAP server is used to deliver messages to the USP Endpoint. When this identifier is used to deliver messages to the USP Endpoint, this identifier is a uri-path that represents the USP Endpoint.

R-COAP.2 - A CoAP request message MUST include a Uri-Query option that supplies the CoAP server URI of the Endpoint that is the source of the CoAP request, formatted as ?reply-to=<coap or coaps uri>. The coap and coaps URIs are defined in sections 6.1 and 6.2 of RFC 7262 [36]. The URI MUST NOT include any optional queries at the end.

R-COAP.2a - When a USP Endpoint receives a CoAP request message it MUST use the reply-to Uri-Query option included in the CoAP request as the CoAP URI for the USP Response (if a response is required by the incoming USP Request).

R-COAP.3 - When creating DNS-SD records (see DNS-SD Records), an Endpoint MUST set the DNS-SD TXT record “path” attribute equal to the value of the CoAP server identifier (uri-path).

4.2.2 Mapping USP Records to CoAP Messages

R-COAP.4 - In order for USP Records to be transferred between a USP Controller and Agent using CoAP, the USP Record MUST be encapsulated within the CoAP message as defined in RFC 7262 [36].

R-COAP.5 – USP Records that exceed the CoAP message size MUST be block encapsulated in accordance with [38].

USP Records are transferred using the CoAP resource that represents the receiving USP Endpoint using the CoAP POST method as defined in RFC 7252.

R-COAP.6 - The CoAP Content-Format for USP Records MUST be application/octet-stream (ID=42) for Message Encoding.

R-COAP.7 - Upon successful reception of the CoAP message using POST, the CoAP server MUST respond with a response code of 2.04 (Changed).

4.2.2.1 Handling CoAP Request Failures

At times CoAP requests fail to complete due to problems in the underlying transport (e.g., timeout) or a failure response code received from the CoAP server due to problems in the CoAP request sent by the CoAP client (4.xx) or problems with the CoAP server implementation (5.xx).

R-COAP.8 - CoAP clients and servers MUST implement the required CoAP response codes defined in section 5.9 of RFC 7262 [36].

R-COAP.9 - When a CoAP client receives a failure indication (e.g., timeout) from the underlying transport layer, the CoAP client MUST indicate a timeout to the USP Endpoint.

R-COAP.10 - When a CoAP client receives a response code of 4.xx or 5.xx, the CoAP client MUST indicate a CoAP failure to the USP Endpoint.

When a CoAP client sends a CoAP request, the CoAP client can provide incorrect or missing information in the CoAP request. For example, a CoAP client can send a CoAP request with an:

• Invalid CoAP method: The CoAP server responds with a 4.05
• Invalid Content-Format options: The CoAP server responds with a 4.15
• Invalid or not understandable payload: The CoAP server responds with a 4.00

R-COAP.11 - When a CoAP server receives a CoAP request with an invalid CoAP method, the CoAP server MUST respond with a 4.05 response code.

R-COAP.12 - When a CoAP server receives a CoAP request with an invalid CoAP Content-Format option, the CoAP server MUST respond with a 4.15 response code.

R-COAP.13 - When a CoAP server receives a CoAP request and the receiving USP Endpoint cannot interpret or decode the USP Record for processing, the CoAP server MUST respond with a 4.00 response code.

4.2.3 MTP Message Encryption

CoAP MTP message encryption is provided using DTLS as described in Section 9 of RFC 7262 [36].

In section 9 of RFC 7262 [36], CoAP messages are secured using one of three modes:

• NoSec: DTLS is disabled
• PreSharedKey: DTLS is enabled and the MTP endpoint uses pre-shared keys that are used to validate the identity of CoAP endpoints involved in the message exchange
• RawPublicKey: DTLS is enabled and the MTP endpoint has an asymmetric key pair without a certificate. The MTP endpoint has an identity calculated from the public key and a list of other MTP endpoints to which it can communicate
• Certificate: DTLS is enabled and the MTP endpoint has an asymmetric key pair with an X.509 certificate.

R-COAP.14 - CoAP clients and servers MUST implement the NoSec and Certificate modes of CoAP security as defined in RFC 7262 [36].

While section 9 of RFC 7262 [36] provides guidance on securing CoAP, further guidance related to DTLS implementations for the Internet of Things is provided by RFC 7925 [37].

R-COAP.15 - CoAP clients and servers MUST implement the mandatory statements of RFC 7925 [37] with the exception that:

• Section 4.4.1 USP Controller certificates can contain domain names with wildcard characters per RFC 6125 [18] guidance.
• Section 4.4.2 Client certificate identifiers do not use EUI-64 identifier but instead use the identifier defined for Client certificates in this Working Text.
• Section 4.4.5 Client Certificate URLs are not required to be implemented.

As USP Endpoints play the role of both CoAP client and server; when the MTP is secured using the Certificate mode of CoAP Security, the USP Endpoint provides a X.509 certificate to the MTP peer.

R-COAP.16 – When the Certificate mode of CoAP is used to secure an MTP, a USP Endpoint MUST provide an X.509 certificate to the MTP peer.

Note that DTLS sessions established for an Endpoint’s CoAP client and CoAP server are distinct. Therefore, it is possible for CoAP to be encrypted in one direction and not the other. If this happens, the requirements and flows in Authentication and Authorization will dictate that Secure Message Exchange be used.

4.3 WebSocket Binding

The WebSockets MTP transfers USP Records between USP Endpoints using the WebSocket protocol as defined in RFC 6455 [19]. Messages that are transferred between WebSocket clients and servers utilize a request/response messaging interaction across an established WebSocket session.

4.3.1 Mapping USP Endpoints to WebSocket URIs

Section 3 of RFC 6455 discusses the URI schemes for identifying WebSocket origin servers and their target resources. These resources are organized hierarchically and governed by a WebSocket origin server listening for WebSocket messages on a given port. USP Endpoints are one type of WebSocket resource that is identified and discovered.

R-WS.1 - As the USP Endpoint is a resource governed by a WebSocket origin server, the WebSocket server MUST also be identified as defined in section 3 of RFC 6455 [19].

R-WS.2 - A USP Endpoint MUST be represented as a WebSocket resource using the path component as defined in section 3 of RFC 6455 [19].

R-WS.3 - When creating DNS-SD records (see Discovery), an Endpoint MUST set the DNS-SD TXT record “path” attribute equal to the value of the Websocket resource using the path component as defined in section 3 of RFC 6455 [19].

4.3.2 Handling of the WebSocket Session

When exchanging the USP Records across WebSockets MTPs, the two USP Endpoints establish a WebSocket session. These WebSocket sessions are expected to be long lived and are reused for subsequent USP Record exchange. A WebSocket session is established using a handshake procedure described in section 4 of RFC 6455. When a WebSocket connection is not longer necessary, the WebSocket connection is closed according to section 7 of RFC 6455. The following figure depicts a WebSocket session handshake that is originated by an Agent.

While WebSocket sessions can be established by either USP Controllers or USP Agents in many deployment scenarios (e.g. communication between USP Endpoints across the Internet), in general, USP Agents will establish the WebSocket session and not expose an open port toward the Internet for security reasons. Regardless of which entity establishes the WebSocket session, at most one (1) open WebSocket session is utilized between the USP Endpoints.

R-WS.4 - USP Endpoints that exchange USP Records MUST utilize at most one (1) open WebSocket session.

R-WS.5 - USP Agent MUST provide the capability to originate the establishment of a WebSocket session.

R-WS.6 - USP Agent MUST provide the capability to accept the establishment of a WebSocket session from a USP Controller.

Note: Requirement R-WS.6 was altered from a MAY to a MUST in USP 1.2 to ensure that the WebSocket MTP is suitable for the in-home communications use case.

R-WS.7 - A USP Endpoint MUST implement the WebSocket handshake protocol to establish a WebSocket connection as defined in section 4 of RFC 6455 [19].

R-WS.8 - A USP Endpoint MUST implement the procedures to close a WebSocket connection as defined in section 7 of RFC 6455 [19].

4.3.2.1 Mapping USP Records to WebSocket Messages

During the establishment of the WebSocket session, the WebSocket client informs the WebSocket server in the Sec-WebSocket-Protocol header about the type of USP Records that will be exchanged across the established WebSocket connection. For USP Records, the Sec-WebSocket-Protocol header contains the value v1.usp. When presented with a Sec-WebSocket-Protocol header containing v1.usp, the WebSocket Server serving a USP Endpoint returns v1.usp in the response’s Sec-WebSocket-Protocol header. If the WebSocket client doesn’t receive a Sec-WebSocket-Protocol header with a value of v1.usp, the WebSocket client does not establish the WebSocket session.

When a WebSocket connection is being initiated with TLS, no USP Record is sent until the TLS negotiation is complete. The WebSocket server will be unable to identify the Endpoint ID of the client unless it looks inside the certificate. To make it easier for the server to identify the client, the request URI of the opening handshake contains a key=value pair in its query component to provide the Endpoint ID of the client. eid is used as the key to the pair, while the value is the Endpoint ID of the client, e.g. eid=doc::agent.

R-WS.9 - The WebSocket’s handshake Sec-WebSocket-Protocol header for exchange of USP Records using the protocol-buffers encoding mechanism MUST be v1.usp.

R-WS.10 - A WebSocket client MUST include the Sec-WebSocket-Protocol header for exchange of USP Records when initiating a WebSocket session.

R-WS.10a (DEPRECATED) - A WebSocket client MUST include the Sec-WebSocket-Extensions header with bbf-usp-protocol WebSocket Extension and extension parameter eid equal to the client’s Endpoint ID when initiating a WebSocket session.

Note: Requirement R-WS.10a was removed in USP 1.3, due to the impossibility of setting WebSocket Extensions in some environments.

R-WS.10b - A WebSocket client MUST include its Endpoint ID, via a key=value pair, in the query component of the request URI in its opening handshake, defined in section 1.3 of RFC 6455 [19]. The key part of the pair MUST have a value of eid and the value part MUST be the client’s Endpoint ID. This pair MUST be separated from other query data by the & character.

R-WS.11 - A WebSocket server that supports USP Endpoints MUST include the Sec-WebSocket-Protocol header for exchange of USP Records when responding to an initiation of a WebSocket session.

R-WS.11a - A WebSocket server SHOULD include the Sec-WebSocket-Extensions header with bbf-usp-protocol WebSocket Extension and extension parameter eid equal to the server’s Endpoint ID when responding to an initiation of a WebSocket session that includes the bbf-usp-protocol extension.

R-WS.11b - WebSocket clients MUST NOT consider WebSocket responses that do not include the bbf-usp-protocol WebSocket Extension to be an error.

R-WS.11c - WebSocket servers MUST NOT consider WebSocket session initiation requests that do not include the bbf-usp-protocol WebSocket Extension to be an error.

R-WS.12 - A WebSocket client MUST NOT establish a WebSocket session if the response to a WebSocket session initiation request does not include the Sec-WebSocket-Protocol header for exchange of USP Records in response to an initiation of a WebSocket session.

R-WS.12a - A WebSocket server MUST NOT establish a WebSocket session if the WebSocket session initiation request does not include the Sec-WebSocket-Protocol header.

4.3.3 Handling of WebSocket Frames

RFC 6455 defines a number of type of WebSocket control frames (e.g., Ping, Pong, Close) and associated condition codes in order to maintain a WebSocket connection. In addition messages are transferred in WebSocket Data control frame.

R-WS.13 - A USP Endpoint MUST implement the WebSocket control frames defined in section 5.5 of RFC 6455 [19].

USP Records can be transferred between USP Controllers and USP Agents over an established WebSocket session. These USP Records are encapsulated within a binary WebSocket data frame as depicted by the figure below.

R-WS.14 - In order for USP Records to be transferred between a USP Controller and Agent using WebSockets MUST be encapsulated within as a binary WebSocket data frame as defined in section 5.6 of RFC 6455 [19].

R-WS.15 - USP Records are transferred between USP Endpoints using message body procedures as defined in section 6 of RFC 6455 [19].

4.3.3.1 Handling Failures to Deliver USP Records

If a USP Endpoint receives a WebSocket frame containing a USP Record that cannot be extracted for processing (e.g., text frame instead of a binary frame, malformed USP Record or USP Record, bad encoding), the receiving USP Endpoint notifies the originating USP Endpoint that an error occurred by closing the WebSocket connection with a 1003 Status Code with the WebSocket Close frame.

R-WS.16 - A USP Endpoint that receives a WebSocket frame containing a USP Record that cannot be extracted for processing, the receiving USP Endpoint MUST terminate the connection using a WebSocket Close frame with a Status Code of 1003.

4.3.3.2 Keeping the WebSocket Session Alive

Once a WebSocket session is established, the WebSocket session is expected to remain open for future exchanges of USP Records. The WebSocket protocol uses Ping and Pong control frames as a keep-alive session. Section 5.5 of RFC 6455 discusses the handling of Ping and Pong control frames.

R-WS.17 - A USP Agent MUST implement a WebSocket keep-alive mechanism by periodically sending Ping control frames and responding to received Ping control frames with Pong control frames as described in section 5.5 of RFC 6455 [19].

R-WS.18 - A USP Agent MUST provide the capability to assign a keep-alive interval in order to send Ping control frames to the remote USP Endpoint.

4.3.3.3 WebSocket Session Retry

If for any reason a WebSocket Session is closed, the USP Endpoint will attempt to re-establish the WebSocket Session according to its session retry policy. For Controllers, this session retry policy is implementation specific.

R-WS.19 – When retrying to establish a WebSocket Session, the Agent MUST use the following retry algorithm to manage the WebSocket Session establishment procedure:

For Agents, the retry interval range is controlled by two variables (described in the table below): the minimum wait interval and the interval multiplier. The corresponding data model Parameter MAY be implemented to allow a USP Controller to change the values of these variables. The factory default values of these variables MUST be the default values listed in the Default column of the table below.

R-WS.20 – Once a WebSocket session is established between the Agent and the Controller, the Agent MUST reset the WebSocket MTP’s retry count to zero for the next WebSocket Session establishment.

R-WS.21 – If a reboot of the Agent occurs, the Agent MUST reset the WebSocket MTP’s retry count to zero for the next WebSocket Session establishment.

4.3.4 MTP Message Encryption

WebSocket MTP message encryption is provided using certificates in TLS as described in section 10.5 and section 10.6 of RFC 6455 [19].

R-WS.22 - USP Endpoints utilizing WebSockets clients and servers for message transport MUST implement the Certificate modes of TLS security as defined in sections 10.5 and 10.6 of RFC 6455 [19].

R-WS.23 - USP Endpoints capable of obtaining absolute time SHOULD wait until it has accurate absolute time before contacting the peer USP Endpoint. If a USP Endpoint for any reason is unable to obtain absolute time, it can contact the peer USP Endpoint without waiting for accurate absolute time. If a USP Endpoint chooses to contact the peer USP Endpoint before it has accurate absolute time (or if it does not support absolute time), it MUST ignore those components of the peer USP Endpoint’s WebScoket MTP certificate that involve absolute time, e.g. not-valid-before and not-valid-after certificate restrictions.

R-WS.24 - USP Controller certificates MAY contain domain names with wildcard characters per RFC 6125 [18] guidance.

4.4 STOMP Binding

The STOMP MTP transfers USP Records between USP endpoints using version 1.2 of the STOMP protocol [40], further referred to as “STOMP Specification”, or the Simple Text Oriented Message Protocol. Messages that are transferred between STOMP clients utilize a message bus interaction model where the STOMP server is the messaging broker that routes and delivers messages based on the destination included in the STOMP header.

The following figure depicts the transfer of the USP Records between USP Agents and Controllers.

The basic steps for any USP Endpoint that utilizes a STOMP MTP are:

1. Negotiate TLS (if required/configured)
2. Connect to the STOMP Server
3. Maintain Heart Beats (if configured)
4. Subscribe to a Destination
5. Send USP Records

R-STOMP.0 - USP Agents utilizing STOMP clients for message transport MUST support the STOMPConn:1 and STOMPController:1 data model profiles.

R-STOMP.1 - USP Agents utilizing STOMP clients for message transport SHOULD support the STOMPAgent:1 and STOMPHeartbeat:1 data model profile.

4.4.1 Handling of the STOMP Session

When exchanging USP Records across STOMP MTPs, each USP Endpoint establishes a communications session with a STOMP server. These STOMP communications sessions are expected to be long lived and are reused for subsequent exchange of USP Records. A STOMP communications session is established using a handshake procedure as described in “Connecting a USP Endpoint to the STOMP Server” section below. A STOMP communications session is intended to be established as soon as the USP Endpoint becomes network-aware and is capable of sending TCP/IP messages.

When a STOMP communications session is no longer necessary, the STOMP connection is closed by the STOMP client, preferably by sending a DISCONNECT frame (see “Handling Other STOMP Frames” section below).

4.4.1.1 Connecting a USP Endpoint to the STOMP Server

R-STOMP.2 - USP Endpoints utilizing STOMP clients for message transport MUST send a STOMP frame to the STOMP server to initiate the STOMP communications session as defined in the “Connecting” section of the STOMP Specification.

R-STOMP.3 - USP Endpoints that DO NOT utilize client certificate authentication MUST include the login and passcode STOMP headers in the STOMP frame. For a USP Agent, if the .STOMP.Connection.{i}.Username Parameter is implemented then its value will be the source for the login STOMP header, and if the .STOMP.Connection.{i}.Password Parameter is implemented then its value will be the source for the passcode STOMP header.

R-STOMP.4 - USP Endpoints sending a STOMP frame MUST include (in addition to other mandatory STOMP headers) an endpoint-id STOMP header containing the Endpoint ID of the USP Endpoint sending the frame. Note: According to the STOMP Specification, the STOMP frame requires that “C style literal escapes” need to be used to encode any carriage return, line feed, or colon characters that are found within the UTF-8 encoded headers, and R-STOMP.4 requires the Endpoint ID to be included in those headers. Since the Endpoint ID always contains colon characters, those will need to be escaped.

R-STOMP.5 - USP Endpoints sending a STOMP frame MUST include a host STOMP header, if configured to do so. For a USP Agent the value MUST contain the value from the appropriate .STOMP.Connection.{i}.VirtualHost Parameter if supported and not empty.

R-STOMP.6 - If the USP Endpoint receives a subscribe-dest STOMP header in the CONNECTED frame, it MUST use the associated value when Subscribing to its destination (see “Subscribing a USP Endpoint to a STOMP Destination” section for more details).

R-STOMP.7 - If the connection to the STOMP server is NOT successful then the USP Endpoint MUST enter a connection retry state. For a USP Agent the retry mechanism is based on the STOMP.Connection.{i}. retry Parameters: ServerRetryInitialInterval, ServerRetryIntervalMultiplier, and ServerRetryMaxInterval.

4.4.1.2 Handling the STOMP Heart Beat Mechanism

The STOMP Heart Beat mechanism can be used to periodically send data between a STOMP client and a STOMP server to ensure that the underlying TCP connection is still available. This is an optional STOMP mechanism and is negotiated when establishing the STOMP connection.

R-STOMP.8 - If the STOMP.Connection instance’s EnableHeartbeats Parameter value is true then the USP Agent MUST negotiate the STOMP Heart Beat mechanism within the STOMP frame during the process of establishing the STOMP connection as is defined in the “Heart-beating” section of the STOMP Specification.

R-STOMP.9 - If the STOMP.Connection instance’s EnableHeartbeats Parameter value is either false or not implemented then the USP Agent MUST either not send the heart-beat STOMP header in the STOMP frame or send “0,0” as the value of the heart-beat STOMP header in the STOMP frame.

R-STOMP.10 - USP Agents negotiating the STOMP Heart Beat mechanism MUST use the STOMP.Connection.{i}.OutgoingHeartbeat and STOMP.Connection.{i}.IncomingHeartbeat Parameter values within the heart-beat STOMP header as defined in the “Heart-beating” section of the STOMP Specification.

R-STOMP.11 - USP Agents that have negotiated a STOMP Heart Beat mechanism with a STOMP server MUST adhere to the heart beat values (as defined in the “Heart-beating” section of the STOMP Specification) as returned in the CONNECTED frame.

4.4.2 Mapping USP Endpoints to STOMP Destinations

USP Agents will have one STOMP destination per STOMP MTP independent of whether those STOMP MTPs use the same STOMP.Connection instance or a different one. The STOMP destination is either configured by the STOMP server via the USP custom subscribe-dest STOMP Header received in the CONNECTED frame (exposed in the Device.LocalAgent.MTP.{i}.STOMP.DestinationFromServer Parameter) or taken from the Device.LocalAgent.MTP.{i}.STOMP.Destination Parameter if there wasn’t a subscribe-dest STOMP Header received in the CONNECTED frame. The USP custom subscribe-dest STOMP Header is helpful in scenarios where the USP Agent doesn’t have a pre-configured destination as it allows the USP Agent to discover the destination.

A USP Controller will subscribe to a STOMP destination for each STOMP server that it is associated with. The USP Controller’s STOMP destination needs to be known by the USP Agent (this is configured in the Device.LocalAgent.Controller.{i}.MTP.{i}.STOMP.Destination Parameter) as it is used when sending a USP Record containing a Notification.

4.4.2.1 Subscribing a USP Endpoint to a STOMP Destination

R-STOMP.12 - USP Endpoints utilizing STOMP clients for message transport MUST subscribe to their assigned STOMP destination by sending a SUBSCRIBE frame to the STOMP server as defined in the “SUBSCRIBE” section of the STOMP Specification.

R-STOMP.13 - USP Endpoints sending a SUBSCRIBE frame MUST include (in addition to other mandatory STOMP headers) a destination STOMP header containing the STOMP destination associated with the USP Endpoint sending the frame.

R-STOMP.14 - USP Agents that receive a subscribe-dest STOMP Header in the CONNECTED frame MUST use that STOMP destination in the destination STOMP header when sending a SUBSCRIBE frame.

R-STOMP.15 - USP Agents that have NOT received a subscribe-dest STOMP Header in the CONNECTED frame MUST use the STOMP destination found in the Device.LocalAgent.MTP.{i}.STOMP.Destination Parameter in the destination STOMP header when sending a SUBSCRIBE frame.

R-STOMP.16 - USP Agents that have NOT received a subscribe-dest STOMP Header in the CONNECTED frame and do NOT have a value in the Device.LocalAgent.MTP.{i}.STOMP.Destination Parameter MUST terminate the STOMP communications session (preferably via the DISCONNECT frame) and enter a connection retry state following R-STOMP.7.

R-STOMP.17 - USP Endpoints sending a SUBSCRIBE frame MUST use an ack value of “auto”.

4.4.3 Mapping USP Records to STOMP Frames

A USP Record is sent from a USP Endpoint to a STOMP Server within a SEND frame. The STOMP Server delivers that USP Record to the destination STOMP Endpoint within a MESSAGE frame. When a USP Endpoint responds to the USP request, the USP Endpoint sends the USP Record to the STOMP Server within a SEND frame, and the STOMP Server delivers that USP Record to the destination USP Endpoint within a MESSAGE frame.

R-STOMP.18 - USP Endpoints utilizing STOMP clients for message transport MUST send USP Records in a SEND frame to the STOMP server as defined in the “SEND” section of the STOMP Specification.

R-STOMP.19 - USP Endpoints sending a SEND frame MUST include (in addition to other mandatory STOMP headers) a content-length STOMP header containing the length of the body included in the SEND frame.

R-STOMP.20 - USP Endpoints sending a SEND frame MUST include (in addition to other mandatory STOMP headers) a content-type STOMP header with a value of “application/vnd.bbf.usp.msg”, which signifies that the body included in the SEND frame contains a Protocol Buffer [4] binary encoding message.

R-STOMP.21 - USP Endpoints sending a SEND frame with content-type of application/vnd.bbf.usp.msg MUST include (in addition to other mandatory STOMP headers) a reply-to-dest STOMP header containing the STOMP destination that indicates where the USP Endpoint that receives the USP Record should send any response (if required).

R-STOMP.22 - USP Endpoints sending a SEND frame with content-type of application/vnd.bbf.usp.msg MUST include the Protocol Buffer [4] binary encoding of the USP Record as the body of the SEND frame.

R-STOMP.23 - When a USP Endpoint receives a MESSAGE frame it MUST use the reply-to-dest included in the STOMP headers as the STOMP destination of the USP response (if a response is required by the incoming USP request).

4.4.3.1 Handling Errors

If a STOMP USP Endpoint receives a MESSAGE frame containing a USP Record that cannot be extracted for processing (e.g., text frame instead of a binary frame, malformed USP Record, bad encoding), it will silently drop the unprocessed USP Record. If the requirements according to USP Record Errors are fulfilled, for the STOMP MTP specifically this means that the reply-to-dest information has to be available, then a USP Record with an appropriate Error Message must be created and transmitted via STOMP SEND frame.

Note: Error handling was unified between MTPs in USP 1.2 by using USP Records instead of MTP specific messages, deprecating most of this section, specifically the requirements R-STOMP.23a, R-STOMP.23b, R-STOMP.24, R-STOMP.24a and R-STOMP.24b. Please see USP Record Errors for details.

R-STOMP.23a (DEPRECATED) - USP Endpoints MUST support STOMP content-type header value of application/vnd.bbf.usp.error.

Note: Requirement R-STOMP.23a was removed in USP 1.2

R-STOMP.23b (DEPRECATED) - A USP Endpoint MUST include a usp-err-id STOMP header in SEND frames of content-type application/vnd.bbf.usp.msg. The value of this header is: <USP Record to_id> + "/" + <USP Message msg_id>, the <USP Message msg_id> field can be left blank if the Record does not contain a USP Message. Since the colon “:” is a reserved character in STOMP headers, all instances of “:” in the USP Record to_id MUST be expressed using an encoding of \c.

Note: Requirement R-STOMP.23b was removed in USP 1.2

R-STOMP.24 (DEPRECATED) - When a USP Endpoint receives a MESSAGE frame containing a USP Record or an encapsulated USP Message within a USP Record that cannot be extracted for processing, the receiving USP Endpoint MUST ignore the USP Record if the received STOMP MESSAGE frame did not include a usp-err-id header.

Note: Requirement R-STOMP.24 was removed in USP 1.2

R-STOMP.24a (DEPRECATED) - When a USP Endpoint receives a MESSAGE frame containing a USP Record or an encapsulated USP Message within a USP Record that cannot be extracted for processing, the receiving USP Endpoint MUST send a STOMP SEND frame with an application/vnd.bbf.usp.error content-type header value if the received STOMP MESSAGE frame included a usp-err-id header.

Note: Requirement R-STOMP.24a was removed in USP 1.2

R-STOMP.24b (DEPRECATED) - A STOMP SEND frame with application/vnd.bbf.usp.error content-type MUST contain the received usp-err-id header, the destination header value set to the received reply-to-dest header, and a message body (formatted using UTF-8 encoding) with the following 2 lines:

• err_code:<numeric code indicating the type of error that caused the overall message to fail>

• err_msg:<additional information about the reason behind the error>

The specific error codes are listed in the MTP USP Record Errors section.

The following is an example message. This example uses “^@” to represent the NULL octet that follows a STOMP body.

SEND
destination:/usp/the-reply-to-dest
content-type:application/vnd.bbf.usp.error
usp-err-id:cid\c3AA3F8\cusp-id-42/683

err_code:7100
err_msg:Field n is not recognized.^@

Note: Requirement R-STOMP.24b was removed in USP 1.2

R-STOMP.25 - If an ERROR frame is received by the USP Endpoint, the STOMP server will terminate the connection. In this case the USP Endpoint MUST enter a connection retry state. For a USP Agent the retry mechanism is based on the STOMP.Connection.{i}. retry Parameters: ServerRetryInitialInterval, ServerRetryIntervalMultiplier, and ServerRetryMaxInterval.

4.4.3.2 Handling Other STOMP Frames

R-STOMP.26 - USP Endpoints utilizing STOMP clients for message transport MUST NOT send the transactional STOMP frames including: BEGIN, COMMIT, and ABORT.

R-STOMP.27 - USP Endpoints utilizing STOMP clients for message transport MUST NOT send the acknowledgement STOMP frames including: ACK and NACK.

R-STOMP.28 - USP Endpoints utilizing STOMP clients for message transport MAY send the following STOMP frames when shutting down a STOMP connection: UNSUBSCRIBE (according to the rules defined in the UNSUBSCRIBE section of the STOMP Specification) and DISCONNECT (according to the rules defined in the DISCONNECT section of the STOMP Specification).

R-STOMP.29 - USP Endpoints utilizing STOMP clients for message transport that DID NOT receive a subscribe-dest STOMP Header in the CONNECTED frame when establishing the STOMP communications session MUST update their STOMP subscription when their destination is altered by sending the UNSUBSCRIBE STOMP frame (according to the rules defined in the UNSUBSCRIBE section of the STOMP Specification) and then re-subscribing as detailed in the “Subscribing a USP Endpoint to a STOMP Destination” section.

R-STOMP.30 - USP Endpoints utilizing STOMP clients for message transport MAY receive a RECEIPT frame in which case the STOMP server is acknowledging that the corresponding client frame has been processed by the server.

4.4.4 Discovery Requirements

The USP Discovery section details requirements about the general usage of DNS, mDNS, and DNS-SD records as it pertains to the USP protocol. This section provides further requirements as to how a USP Endpoint advertises discovery information when a STOMP MTP is being utilized.

R-STOMP.31 - When creating a DNS-SD record, an Endpoint MUST set the DNS-SD “path” attribute equal to the value of the destination that it has subscribed to.

R-STOMP.32 - When creating a DNS-SD record, an Endpoint MUST utilize the STOMP server’s address information in the A and AAAA records instead of the USP Endpoint’s address information.

4.4.5 STOMP Server Requirements

R-STOMP.33 - A STOMP server implementation MUST adhere to the requirements defined in the STOMP Specification.

R-STOMP.34 - A STOMP server implementation MUST perform authentication of the STOMP client and ensure that a Remote USP Endpoint is only allowed to subscribe to the destination that is associated with the USP Endpoint.

R-STOMP.35 - A STOMP server implementation SHOULD support both Client Certification Authentication and Username/Password Authentication mechanisms.

4.4.6 MTP Message Encryption

STOMP MTP message encryption is provided using TLS certificates.

R-STOMP.36 - USP Endpoints utilizing STOMP clients for message transport MUST implement TLS 1.2 RFC 5246 [33] or later with backward compatibility to TLS 1.2.

R-STOMP.37 - STOMP server certificates MAY contain domain names and those domain names MAY contain domain names with wildcard characters per RFC 6125 [18] guidance.

4.5 MQTT Binding

The Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) MTP transfers USP Records between USP Endpoints using the MQTT protocol. Messages that are transferred between MQTT clients utilize a message bus interaction model where the MQTT server is the messaging broker that routes and delivers messages based on the Topic Name included in the MQTT Publish packet variable header.

The following figure depicts the transfer of the USP Records between USP Agents and Controllers.

The basic steps for any USP Endpoint that utilizes an MQTT MTP are:

• Negotiate TLS (if required/configured)
• Connect to the MQTT Server (server may require Authentication)
• Subscribe to a Topic
• Publish USP Records
• Optionally send PINGREQ messages to keep the connection alive

The following figure shows the MQTT packets that have requirements in this section for their use when MQTT is a USP MTP.

R-MQTT.1 - USP Endpoints utilizing MQTT clients for message transport MUST implement MQTT 5.0 [28].

R-MQTT.2 - USP Endpoints utilizing MQTT clients for message transport MAY implement MQTT 3.1.1 [27].

Requirements in this MQTT MTP specification are common to both the MQTT 3.1.1 and MQTT 5.0 specifications unless an MQTT version is named.

The MQTT specifications are very complete and comprehensive in describing syntax and usage requirements of MQTT packets and behaviors. Therefore, none of those requirements are re-iterated in this specification. This specification only contains requirements unique to use of MQTT as a USP MTP. The above two requirements for compliance with the MQTT specifications are critical in developing an implementation compliant with this MQTT Binding specification. Wherever an MQTT packet or other functionality is mentioned in the requirements in this MQTT Binding specification, the requirement for compliance with the MQTT specification (R-MQTT.1 and R-MQTT.2) apply.

R-MQTT.3 - USP Agents utilizing MQTT clients for message transport MUST support MQTT over TCP transport protocol.

The MQTT specification also describes how MQTT can run over WebSockets. Deployments can choose to use MQTT over WebSockets, if they use MQTT clients and servers with support for this option. The TCP option is required to ensure interoperability.

R-MQTT.4 - USP Agents utilizing MQTT clients for message transport MUST support the MQTTClientCon:1, MQTTClientSubscribe:1, MQTTAgent:1, and MQTTController:1 data model profiles.

R-MQTT.5 - USP Agents utilizing MQTT clients for message transport SHOULD support the MQTTClientExtended:1 data model profile.

4.5.1 Connecting a USP Endpoint to the MQTT Server

When exchanging USP Records across MQTT MTPs, each USP Endpoint establishes a communications session with an MQTT server. These MQTT communications sessions are expected to be long-lived and are re-used for subsequent exchange of USP Records. An MQTT communications session is established using the procedure in this section. An MQTT communications session is intended to be established as soon as the USP Endpoint becomes network-aware and can send TCP/IP messages.

When an MQTT communications session is no longer necessary or expires (see “Keep Alive” section below), the MQTT connection is closed by the MQTT client, preferably by sending a DISCONNECT packet (see Handling Other MQTT Packets section below).

R-MQTT.1 and R-MQTT.2 require that all MQTT capabilities referenced in this section and its sub-sections are compliant with the MQTT specifications. Reading the MQTT specification is highly recommended to ensure the correct syntax and usage of MQTT packets and properties (CONNECT, CONNACK, User Name, Password, ClientId, User Property, Keep Alive, PINGREQ, PINGRESP, etc.).

R-MQTT.6 - USP Endpoints utilizing MQTT clients for message transport MUST send a CONNECT packet to the MQTT server to initiate the MQTT communications session.

R-MQTT.7 - USP Endpoints with a configured MQTT User Name and Password for use with this MQTT server MUST include these in the MQTT CONNECT packet. The .MQTT.Client.{i}.Username and .MQTT.Client.{i}.Password Parameter values (associated with this MQTT server) will be used for User Name and Password.

R-MQTT.8 - USP Endpoints MUST set the value of the CONNECT packet Client Identifier (ClientId) as follows:

• If a non-empty, non-null ClientId value exists for use with this MQTT server, this MUST be used. The data model Parameter for the ClientId is .MQTT.Client.{i}.ClientID.
• If an MQTT 5.0 client has no configured ClientId (null or empty string) the USP Endpoint MUST send an empty string in the Client Identifier property.
• If an MQTT 3.1.1 client has no configured ClientId, the USP Endpoint SHOULD attempt to use its USP Endpoint ID as the ClientId.

R-MQTT.9 - An MQTT 5.0 client MUST save (in the .MQTT.Client.{i}.ClientID Parameter) an Assigned Client Identifier included in a CONNACK packet as its configured ClientId for future connections to the MQTT server.

R-MQTT.10 - If the connection to the MQTT server is NOT successful then the USP Endpoint MUST enter a connection retry state. For a USP Agent the retry mechanism is based on the MQTT.Client.{i}. retry Parameters: ConnectRetryTime, ConnectRetryIntervalMultiplier, and ConnectRetryMaxInterval.

R-MQTT.11 - Once a USP Endpoint has successfully connected to an MQTT server, it MUST use the same ClientId for all subsequent connections with that server.

4.5.1.1 CONNECT Flags and Properties

The MQTT CONNECT packet has a number of flags and properties that can be set. The User Name and Password flags are set to 1 if these parameters are included. The use of the Will Retain, Will QoS, and Will Flag are left up to the deployment. They are not needed in order to use MQTT as a USP MTP and can be “0” if there is no deployment-specified need for them. The Clean Start flag can also be used according to deployment-specified needs. Configured values for these flags can be provided through the related .MQTT.Client.{i}. Parameters.

MQTT 3.1.1 does not provide a simple mechanism for a USP MQTT client to provide its Endpoint ID to the MQTT server. But the server does have other options, such as:

1. Support Endpoint ID as ClientId.
2. Get Endpoint ID from client TLS certificate.

MQTT 3.1.1 also does not provide a mechanism for the MQTT server to tell a client what Topic other Endpoints should use to send the client a message (the “reply to” Topic). This information would need to be pre-configured or provided in some manner not specified here.

MQTT 5.0 includes additional properties that deployments can choose to use.

R-MQTT.12 - An MQTT 5.0 USP Endpoint MUST support setting the Request Response Information property to 1, and MUST support receiving the corresponding Response Information in the CONNACK packet.

The Response Information property is used by an MQTT 5.0 client as the Response Topic (which is the MQTT 5.0 PUBLISH packet property identifying the Topic to send a USP response to). The Response Information property requirements for use of the received Response Information are below in Sending the USP Record in a PUBLISH Packet Payload. Ensuring the client is subscribed to this Topic or a Topic Filter that includes this Topic is described in Subscribing to MQTT Topics.

R-MQTT.13 - An MQTT 5.0 USP Endpoint MUST include a User Property name-value pair in the CONNECT packet with name of “usp-endpoint-id” and value of this Endpoint’s USP Endpoint ID.

4.5.1.2 Keep Alive

The MQTT Keep Alive mechanism has several components:

• The CONNECT packet Keep Alive field tells the server to disconnect the client if the server does not receive a packet from the client before the Keep Alive time (in seconds) has elapsed since the prior received packet.
• The MQTT 5.0 CONNACK packet Keep Alive field allows the server to inform the client the maximum interval the server will allow to elapse between received packets before it disconnects the client due to inactivity.
• PINGREQ and PINGRESP packets can be used to keep the connection up if the timer is nearing expiry and there is no need for another type of message. PINGREQ can also be used by the client at any time to check on the status of the connection.

The client can indicate the Server is not required to disconnect the Client on the grounds of inactivity by setting the CONNECT Keep Alive to zero (0). Note that WebSockets mechanisms can be used to keep the connection alive if MQTT is being run over WebSockets. Also note the server is allowed to disconnect the client at any time, regardless of Keep Alive value.

R-MQTT.14 - USP Endpoints with a configured Keep Alive value MUST include this in the MQTT CONNECT packet. The .MQTT.Client.{i}.KeepAliveTime Parameter value (associated with this MQTT server) will be used for the Keep Alive value.

Use of PINGREQ and PINGRESP for keeping sessions alive (or determining session aliveness) is as described in the MQTT specification. No additional requirements are provided for use of these packets in a USP context.

4.5.2 Subscribing to MQTT Topics

The SUBSCRIBE packet is sent by the MQTT client to subscribe to one or more Topics or Topic Filters. These are needed to allow the MQTT client to receive application messages. The MQTT client will receive all application messages published by other clients that are sent to a Topic that matches (either exactly or within a wildcarded Topic Filter) a subscribed-to Topic or Topic Filter. The MQTT server indicates in the SUBACK response packet whether the client has succeeded or failed to subscribe to each Topic or Topic Filter sent in the SUBSCRIBE packet.

USP Endpoints can be configured with one or more specific MQTT Topics or Topic Filters to subscribe to for each MQTT server they are associated with. In MQTT 5.0, a CONNACK User Property named “subscribe-topic” can be used to provide the client with Topic or Topic Filter values for the client to subscribe to. There is no similar capability in MQTT 3.1.1. This means configuration or some out-of-band mechanism are the only means of supplying subscription Topics or Topic Filters to an MQTT 3.1.1 client. An Agent will need to be configured with a Controller’s MQTT Topic (the Device.LocalAgent.Controller.{i}.MTP.{i}.MQTT.Topic Parameter is used to configure this), to send a Notification to that Controller.

R-MQTT.1 and R-MQTT.2 require that all MQTT capabilities referenced in this section and its sub-sections are compliant with the MQTT specifications. Reading the MQTT specification is highly recommended to ensure the correct syntax and usage of MQTT packets and properties (SUBSCRIBE, Topic Filter, QoS 0, QoS 1, QoS 2, etc.).

R-MQTT.15 - USP Endpoints that successfully connect to an MQTT server MUST send a SUBSCRIBE packet with all Topic Filters identified in the following list:

• All configured Topic Filter values for use with this MQTT server MUST be included in a SUBSCRIBE packet. For a USP Agent, the .MQTT.Client.{i}.Subscription.{i}. table can be used to configure Topic Filter values.
• If an MQTT 5.0 USP Endpoint received one or more User Property in the CONNACK packet where the name of the name-value pair is “subscribe-topic”, the USP Endpoint MUST include the value of all such name-value pairs in its SUBSCRIBE packet as a Topic Filter.
• If an MQTT 5.0 Endpoint received a Response Information property in the CONNACK packet, and the topic from that Response Information property is not included (directly or as a subset of a Topic Filter) among the Topic Filters of the previous 2 bullets, the Endpoint MUST include the value of the Response Information property in its SUBSCRIBE packet.
• If a USP Agent has a ResponseTopicConfigured value and did not receive a Response Information property in the CONNACK packet, and the topic in the ResponseTopicConfigured Parameter is not included (directly or as a subset of a Topic Filter) among the Topic Filters of the first 2 bullets, the Agent MUST include the value of the ResponseTopicConfigured in its SUBSCRIBE packet. For MQTT 5.0 clients, the subscription topic is set to the value of ResponseTopicConfigured. For MQTT 3.1.1 clients, the subscription topic is set to a wildcarded topic filter based on the value of ResponseTopicConfigured.

R-MQTT.16 - USP Agents that have NOT received any Subscriptions outlined in R-MQTT.15 “subscribe-topic” User Property in the CONNACK and do NOT have a configured Topic Filter (Device.MQTT.Client.{i}.Subscription.{i}.Topic Parameter for this Client instance in the data model) MUST terminate the MQTT communications session (via the DISCONNECT packet) and consider the MTP disabled.

R-MQTT.17 - If a USP Endpoint does not successfully subscribe to at least one Topic, it MUST NOT publish a packet with a USP Record in its Application Message, and MUST disconnect from the MQTT server.

For each Topic listed in a SUBSCRIBE packet, the client will also provide a desired QoS level. See the MQTT specification (MQTT 3.1.1 [27] or MQTT 5.0 [28], Section 4.3) for description of the three QoS levels (QoS 0, QoS 1, QoS 2). The usefulness of these QoS levels in the context of USP depends on the particulars of the MQTT deployment. It is therefore up to the implementer / deployer to decide which QoS setting to use. In order to ensure deployments have the ability to use at least QoS 1, MQTT clients and servers are required to implement at least QoS 1 (see requirements in Sending the USP Record in a PUBLISH Packet Payload and MQTT Server Requirements).

4.5.3 Sending the USP Record in a PUBLISH Packet Payload

A USP Record is sent from a USP Endpoint to an MQTT Server within a PUBLISH packet payload. The MQTT Server delivers that PUBLISH packet to the destination MQTT client USP Endpoint. This is true of all USP Message types.

R-MQTT.1 and R-MQTT.2 require that all MQTT capabilities referenced in this section and its sub-sections are compliant with the MQTT specifications. Reading the MQTT specification is highly recommended to ensure the correct syntax and usage of MQTT packets and properties (PUBLISH, Content Type, Response Topic, etc.).

R-MQTT.18 - USP Endpoints utilizing MQTT clients for message transport MUST send the USP Record in the payload of a PUBLISH packet.

R-MQTT.19 - USP Endpoints MUST send USP Records using the Protocol Buffer [4] binary encoding of the USP Record.

R-MQTT.20 - USP Endpoints utilizing MQTT clients for message transport MUST support MQTT QoS 0 and QoS 1.

The USP Controller’s MQTT Topic needs to be known by any USP Agent expected to send a Notify message to the Controller.

The USP Agent will also need to know an exact Topic where it can be reached (and not just a Topic Filter) in order to provide a Controller with the Agent’s “reply to” Topic.

R-MQTT.21 - An MQTT 5.0 USP Endpoint that receives Response Information in the CONNACK packet MUST use this as its “reply to” Topic.

Note: By using a single “reply to” Topic for all USP connections, an Agent on the MQTT server may become a DoS attack vector and cannot be unsubscribed from because this would cause the Agent to lose all “reply to” traffic.

R-MQTT.22 - USP Endpoints MUST include a “reply to” Topic in all PUBLISH packets transporting USP Records.

R-MQTT.23 - USP Endpoints using MQTT 5.0 MUST include their “reply to” Topic in the PUBLISH Response Topic property.

R-MQTT.24 - USP Endpoints using MQTT 3.1.1 MUST include their “reply to” Topic after “/reply-to=” at the end of the PUBLISH Topic Name, with any “/” character in the Topic replaced by “%2F”.

For example, if a Controller’s “reply to” Topic is “usp/controllers/oui:00256D:my-unique-bbf-id-42”, and it is sending to an Agent whose Topic is “usp/agents/cid:3AA3F8:my-unique-usp-id-42”, the PUBLISH Topic Name for a USP Controller using an MQTT 3.1.1 client will be “usp/agents/cid:3AA3F8:my-unique-usp-id-42/reply-to= usp%2Fcontrollers%2Foui:00256D:my-unique-bbf-id-42”.

USP Endpoints that need to send a response to a received USP Record will need to determine the Topic Name to use in the responding PUBLISH packet.

R-MQTT.25 - USP Endpoints using MQTT 3.1.1 MUST interpret the portion of the received PUBLISH Topic Name following the last forward slash “/reply-to=” as the response Topic Name. Any instance of “%2F” in this received string MUST be replaced with “/”.

R-MQTT.26 - USP Endpoints using MQTT 5.0 MUST use the received PUBLISH Response Topic property as the response Topic Name.

When an USP Endpoint receives a MQTT 3.1.1 PUBLISH packet without “reply to” Topic or a USP Connect Record with a different MQTT version indicated in the version field of the mqtt_connect Record type, then a MQTT version mismatch between brokers involved in the MQTT communication has occurred.

R-MQTT.26a - If a MQTT version mismatch is encountered and the sender “reply to” Topic is known, the receiving Endpoint MUST handle this error according to Handling Errors and cease communication until the mismatch has been addressed by the sender.

R-MQTT.27 - USP Endpoints sending a USP Record using MQTT 5.0 MUST have “usp.msg” in the Content Type property.

MQTT clients using MQTT 3.1.1 will need to know to pass the payload to the USP Agent for handling. There is no indication in MQTT 3.1.1 of the payload application or encoding. an MQTT 3.1.1 deployment could choose to dedicate the MQTT connection to USP, or put something in the syntax of PUBLISH packet Topic Names that would indicate the payload is a USP Record.

R-MQTT.27a - USP Endpoints receiving a MQTT 5.0 PUBLISH packet MUST interpret the Content Type property of “usp.msg” or “application/vnd.bbf.usp.msg” (the registered USP Record MIME type) as indicating the packet contains a USP Record.

4.5.4 Handling Errors

The MQTT specification requires servers and clients to disconnect if there is a violation at the MQTT protocol layer.

If a MQTT USP Endpoint receives a PUBLISH packet containing a USP Record that cannot be extracted for processing (e.g. malformed USP Record or bad encoding), it will silently drop the unprocessed USP Record. If the requirements according to USP Record Errors are fulfilled, then a USP Record with an appropriate Error Message will be created and published.

Note: Error handling was unified between MTPs in USP 1.2 by using USP Records instead of MTP specific messages, deprecating most of this section, specifically R-MQTT.28, R-MQTT.29, R-MQTT.30, R-MQTT.31, R-MQTT.31a and R-MQTT.32. Please see USP Record Errors for details.

R-MQTT.28 (DEPRECATED) - MQTT 5.0 Endpoints MUST support PUBLISH Content Type value of “usp.error”.

Note: Requirement R-MQTT.28 was removed in USP 1.2

R-MQTT.29 (DEPRECATED) - MQTT 5.0 Endpoints MUST include a usp-err-id MQTT User Property in PUBLISH packets of content-type “usp.msg”. The value of this User Property is: <USP Record to_id> + "/" + <USP Message msg_id>, the <USP Message msg_id> field can be left blank if the Record does not contain a USP Message.

Note: Requirement R-MQTT.29 was removed in USP 1.2

R-MQTT.30 (DEPRECATED) - When an MQTT 3.1.1 USP Endpoint receives a PUBLISH packet containing a USP Record or an encapsulated USP Message within a USP Record that cannot be extracted for processing, the receiving USP Endpoint MUST silently drop the USP Record.

Note: Requirement R-MQTT.30 was removed in USP 1.2

R-MQTT.31 (DEPRECATED) - When an MQTT 5.0 USP Endpoint receives a PUBLISH packet containing a USP Record or an encapsulated USP Message within a USP Record that cannot be extracted for processing and the PUBLISH packet contains a usp-err-id header, the receiving USP Endpoint MUST send a PUBLISH packet with Content Type “usp.error”, a User Property set to the received usp-err-id User Property, the Topic Name set to the received Response Topic, and a PUBLISH Payload (formatted using UTF-8 encoding) with the following 2 lines:

• err_code:<numeric code indicating the type of error that caused the overall message to fail>
• err_msg:<additional information about the reason behind the error>

The specific error codes are listed in the MTP USP Record Errors section.

MQTT 5.0 includes a Reason Code that is used to respond to PUBLISH packets when QoS 1 or QoS 2 is used.

Note: Requirement R-MQTT.31 was removed in USP 1.2

R-MQTT.31a (DEPRECATED) - USP Endpoints receiving a MQTT 5.0 PUBLISH packet MUST interpret the Content Type property of “usp.error” or “application/vnd.bbf.usp.error” (the registered USP error message MIME type) as indicating the packet contains a USP error message and code.

Note: Requirement R-MQTT.31a was removed in USP 1.2

R-MQTT.32 (DEPRECATED) - When a USP Endpoint using MQTT 5.0 receives a PUBLISH packet with QoS 1 or QoS 2 containing a USP Record or an encapsulated USP Message within a USP Record that cannot be extracted for processing, the receiving USP Endpoint MUST include Reason Code 153 (0x99) identifying “Payload format invalid” in any PUBACK or PUBREC packet.

Note these packets will be received by the MQTT server and will not be forwarded to the USP Endpoint that originally sent the USP Record.

Note: Requirement R-MQTT.32 was removed in USP 1.2

R-MQTT.33 - If the MQTT server terminates the connection, the USP Endpoint MUST enter a connection retry state. For a USP Agent the retry mechanism is based on the MQTT.Client.{i}. ConnectRetryTime Parameter.

4.5.5 Handling Other MQTT Packets

Use of PUBREL, and PUBCOMP depends on the QoS level being used for the subscribed Topic. No additional requirements are provided for use of these packets in a USP context.

Use of PINGREQ and PINGRESP for keeping sessions alive (or determining session aliveness) is as described in the MQTT specification. No additional requirements are provided for use of these packets in a USP context.

Use of UNSUBSCRIBE and UNSUBACK is as described in the MQTT specification. If an Agent’s configured Topics are disabled by a Controller (by setting Device.MQTT.Client.{i}.Subscription.{i}.Enable to “false”), UNSUBSCRIBE is used to unsubscribe from them.

R-MQTT.34 - USP Endpoints utilizing MQTT clients for message transport SHOULD send an UNSUBSCRIBE packet when a subscribed Topic or Topic Filter is no longer indicated but the MQTT connection is expected to stay up.

R-MQTT.1 and R-MQTT.2 require that all MQTT capabilities referenced in this section and its sub-sections are compliant with the MQTT specifications. Reading the MQTT specification is highly recommended to ensure the correct syntax and usage of MQTT packets and properties (DISCONNECT, etc.).

R-MQTT.35 - USP Endpoints utilizing MQTT clients for message transport SHOULD send a DISCONNECT packet when shutting down an MQTT connection.

MQTT 5.0 specifies the AUTH packet to use for extended authentication. Implementations can make use of extended authentication but should only do so if they are sure that all clients and servers will support the same authentication mechanisms.

4.5.6 Discovery Requirements

The USP discovery section details requirements about the general usage of DNS, mDNS, and DNS-SD records as it pertains to the USP protocol. This section provides further requirements as to how a USP Endpoint advertises discovery information when an MQTT MTP is being utilized.

R-MQTT.36 - When creating a DNS-SD record (DNS-SD Records), an Agent MUST set the DNS-SD “path” attribute equal to the value of its “reply to” Topic.

R-MQTT.37 - When creating a DNS-SD record (DNS-SD Records), a Controller MUST set the DNS-SD “path” attribute equal to a value that is included among the Controller’s subscribed Topics and Topic Filters.

R-MQTT.38 - When creating a DNS-SD record, an Endpoint MUST utilize the MQTT server’s address information in the A and AAAA records instead of the USP Endpoint’s address information.

4.5.7 MQTT Server Requirements

R-MQTT.39 - MQTT servers MUST implement MQTT 5.0 [28].

R-MQTT.40 - MQTT servers SHOULD implement MQTT 3.1.1 [27].

R-MQTT.41 - MQTT servers MUST implement MQTT over TCP transport protocol.

R-MQTT.42 - An MQTT server MUST support authentication of the MQTT client through at least one of the mechanisms described in Section 5.4.1 of the MQTT specification, and support an Access Control List mechanism that can restrict the topics an authenticated MQTT client can subscribe or publish to.

R-MQTT.43 - An MQTT server SHOULD support both Client Certification Authentication and User Name / Password Authentication mechanisms.

R-MQTT.44 - An MQTT server SHOULD support sending Topic or Topic Filter values in a “subscribe-topic” User Property in the CONNACK packet.

R-MQTT.45 - If an MQTT server supports subscriptions from unconfigured Agents, it MUST support wildcarded Topic Filters.

This will allow support for Agents that try to subscribe to “+/<Endpoint ID>/#” and “+/+/<Endpoint ID>/#” Topic Filters.

R-MQTT.46 - An MQTT server MUST support at least MQTT QoS 1 level.

R-MQTT.47 - An MQTT server SHOULD support a ClientId value that is a USP Endpoint ID. This includes supporting all Endpoint ID characters (includes “-”, “.”, “_”, “%”, and “:”) and at least 64 characters length.

4.5.8 MTP Message Encryption

MQTT MTP message encryption is provided using TLS certificates.

R-MQTT.48 - USP Endpoints utilizing MQTT clients for message transport MUST implement TLS 1.2 [33] or later with backward compatibility to TLS 1.2.

R-MQTT.49 - MQTT server certificates MAY contain domain names and those domain names MAY contain domain names with wildcard characters per RFC 6125 [18] guidance.

4.6 UNIX Domain Socket Binding

This is an internal Message Transfer Protocol (MTP) for communicating between a USP Agent and a USP Controller that reside on separate processes within a single device. This MTP uses UNIX domain sockets to send Frames between the UNIX domain socket clients and servers. The Frame contains a Header field and one or more Type-Length-Value (TLV) fields to transport USP Records and other information related to the use of this transport as a USP MTP.

4.6.1 Handling UNIX Domain Socket Connections

UNIX domain socket concepts are broken down into two key aspects: server and client. A UNIX domain socket server is responsible for listening on an UNIX domain socket for incoming connections and then accepting those connections such that the server can then send and receive messages over the connection. A UNIX domain socket client is responsible for establishing a connection to a server such that the client can then send and receive messages over the established communications session.

UNIX domain sockets are different than other sockets as they aren’t governed by a host and port. Instead, the UNIX domain socket is associated to a local file path (and its internal file descriptor).

A USP Agent communicating over UNIX domain sockets as the USP MTP can act as either a UNIX domain socket server or a UNIX domain socket client, but not both.

A USP Controller communicating over UNIX domain sockets as the USP MTP can act as either a UNIX domain socket server or a UNIX domain socket client, but not both.

Since UNIX domain sockets and this type of internal MTP is completely contained within the device itself, there is no need to advertise the USP Agent or USP Controller details via mDNS.

R-UDS.1 - USP Agents utilizing UNIX domain socket servers or clients for message transport MUST support the UDSAgent:1 and UDSController:1 data model profiles.

4.6.1.1 Establishing a UNIX Domain Socket Connection

This section contains requirements related to setting up a UNIX domain socket connection between a USP Agent and a USP Controller that reside on two separate processes within the same device.

R-UDS.2 - A USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket server MUST bind to a UNIX domain socket and listen for incoming connections.

R-UDS.3 - A USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket server MUST accept incoming connections from UNIX domain socket clients.

To get to this point, a connection to the server’s listen socket must be made from the USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket client.

R-UDS.4 - A USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket client MUST connect to a known UNIX domain socket server.

At this point we have a bidirectional UNIX domain socket connection, which can be used to send USP Records between a USP Agent and a USP Controller.

4.6.1.2 Retrying a UNIX Domain Socket Connection

UNIX domain sockets don’t often get disconnected after the connection has been established on both ends, but there are cases where a retry algorithm is valuable:

• Many UNIX domain socket clients are simultaneously attempting to establish a connection with the UNIX domain socket server, and that limit exceeds the “backlog” value that the UNIX domain socket server used when calling the “listen” system call.
• A UNIX domain socket is terminated by the USP Agent or USP Controller due to some failure to deliver or handle a frame message (see Section 4.6.2.1 Handling Failures to Handshake, Section 4.6.3.1 Handling Failures to Deliver USP Records, Section 4.6.5 Handling Other UNIX Domain Socket Failures, and Section 4.6.6 Error Handling)

If for any reason a UNIX domain socket connection fails to be established or is closed, the USP Endpoint acting as a client will attempt to re-establish the UNIX domain socket connection.

R-UDS.5 - When a UNIX domain socket connection is closed or fails to be established, the USP Endpoint acting as a client MUST attempt to re-establish the UNIX domain socket within a random amount of time between 1 and 5 seconds.

4.6.1.3 Sending a Message over a UNIX Domain Socket

This MTP uses UNIX domain sockets to send Frames between the UNIX domain socket clients and servers. The UNIX domain socket Frame contains a Header field and one or more Type-Length-Value (TLV) fields to transport the information related to the use of this transport as a USP MTP. The Header field contains a Synchronization part (which includes the hexadecimal version of “_USP”) and a Length part that contains the length of the remainder of the Frame (i.e. the length of the entire Frame excluding the size of the Header). The Type part of the TLV field will always be 1 byte, the Length part of the TLV field will always be 4 bytes, and the Value part of the TLV field is based on the Type.

R-UDS.6 - A Frame sent across a UNIX domain socket that is being used as an MTP MUST have a Header field and one or more TLV fields.

R-UDS.7 - The Header of a Frame sent across a UNIX domain socket that is being used as an MTP MUST have a synchronization part and a length part.

R-UDS.8 - The synchronization portion of the Frame’s Header MUST contain the following 4 bytes: 0x5f 0x55 0x53 0x50 (the hexadecimal version of “_USP”).

R-UDS.9 - The length portion of the Frame’s Header MUST contain the length of the remainder of the Frame (i.e. the length of the entire Frame excluding the size of the Header) as a 4 byte unsigned integer in network byte order.

R-UDS.10 - A TLV field contained in a Frame sent across a UNIX domain socket that is being used as an MTP MUST have a 1 byte Type.

R-UDS.11 - A TLV field contained in a Frame sent across a UNIX domain socket that is being used as an MTP MUST have a 4 byte Length in network byte order.

The following set of Types are defined as allowable types in the TLV fields:

R-UDS.12 - A Frame sent across a UNIX domain socket that is being used as an MTP MUST contain a TLV with Type 1 for any Handshake negotiation messages

R-UDS.13 - A Frame sent across a UNIX domain socket that is being used as an MTP MUST contain a TLV with Type 2 for any Error messages

R-UDS.14 - A Frame sent across a UNIX domain socket that is being used as an MTP MUST contain a TLV with Type 3 for any USP Record messages

R-UDS.15 - A Frame sent across a UNIX domain socket that is being used as an MTP MUST ignore any TLVs that have unexpected Types

4.6.2 Handshaking with UNIX Domain Sockets

After a UNIX domain socket is established between a server (either a USP Agent acting as a server or a USP Controller acting as a server) and a client (either a USP Agent acting as a client or a USP Controller acting as a client), the USP Endpoints need to exchange Handshake Frames to provide each other with their identities because every USP Record contains the from and to Endpoint ID. This means that both the USP Agent and USP Controller will send a Frame with a Type 1 TLV and their own Endpoint ID before sending any USP Record across the newly established UNIX domain socket connection.

R-UDS.16 - A USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket client MUST send a Unix domain socket Frame containing a Type 1 (Handshake) TLV field once it establishes a UNIX domain socket connection. This message MUST contain the Endpoint ID of the USP Endpoint sending the message.

R-UDS.17 - A USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket server MUST send a Unix domain socket Frame containing a Type 1 (Handshake) TLV field once it receives a Unix domain socket Frame containing a Type 1 (Handshake) TLV field from a USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket client. This message MUST contain the Endpoint ID of the USP Endpoint sending the message.

R-UDS.18 - A USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket client MUST terminate the UNIX domain socket connection if it doesn’t receive a Unix domain socket Frame containing a Type 1 (Handshake) TLV field within 30 seconds of when it sent its own Unix domain socket Frame containing a Type 1 (Handshake) TLV field.

Once both sides of the UNIX domain socket have successfully completed the handshake process, which is done by the USP Agent and the USP Controller exchanging Unix domain socket Frames that contain a Type 1 (Handshake) TLV field, then either the USP Agent or USP Controller may begin sending USP Record messages.

R-UDS.19 - A USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket client or server MUST ignore an unexpected UNIX domain socket Frame that contains a Type 2 (Handshake) TLV field.

R-UDS.20 - A USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket client or server MUST ignore any UNIX domain socket Frames that contain a Type 3 (USP Record) TLV field until it has successfully completed the handshake process.

The following image shows an example of a UNIX domain socket Frame that contains a Type 1 (Handshake) TLV field used for handshaking between a USP Agent and USP Controller. In this example, the Endpoint ID being used is “os::00256D-0123456789”.

4.6.2.1 Handling Failures to Handshake

If for any reason the handshake process fails on one side of the UNIX domain socket or the other, then the side that fails the handshake process is responsible for sending a UNIX domain socket Frame containing an Error (using a Type 2 TLV field) that explains why the handshake process has failed .

R-UDS.21 - A USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket client or server MUST send a UNIX domain socket Frame containing a Type 2 (Error) TLV field if it can not process an incoming UNIX domain socket Frame that contains a Type 1 (Handshake) TLV field.

4.6.3 Sending USP Records across UNIX Domain Sockets

Once a UNIX domain socket is established between a server (either a USP Agent acting as a server or a USP Controller acting as a server) and a client (either a USP Agent acting as a client or a USP Controller acting as a client), and the USP Endpoints have successfully completed the handshake process, then either the USP Agent or USP Controller may begin sending UNIX domain socket Frames that contain a USP Record. A USP Endpoint sends a USP Record by sending a UNIX domain socket Frame with a Type 3 (USP Record) TLV field that contains the Google Protocol Buffer binary-encoded USP Record across the established UNIX domain socket connection.

R-UDS.22 - A USP Endpoint MUST send Google Protocol Buffer binary-encoded USP Records by utilizing a UNIX domain socket Frame that contains a Type 3 (USP Record) TLV field.

The following image shows an example of a UNIX domain socket Frame that contains a Type 3 (USP Record) TLV field, which is used for sending a USP Record between a USP Agent and USP Controller.

4.6.3.1 Handling Failures to Deliver USP Records

If a USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket client or server receives a UNIX domain socket Frame that contains a USP Record that cannot be extracted for processing (e.g., a UNIX domain socket Frame that includes a Type 3 TLV with text instead of a binary data, a malformed USP Record), a UNIX domain socket Frame containing a Type 2 (Error) TLV field is sent in response and the UNIX domain socket connection gets closed.

R-UDS.23 - A USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket client or server MUST send a UNIX domain socket Frame containing a Type 2 (Error) TLV field and terminate the UNIX Domain Socket connection, if it receives an incoming UNIX domain socket Frame containing a USP Record that cannot be extracted for processing.

Other USP Record processing failures (where the USP Record can be extracted, but other issues exist) are handled by R-MTP.5.

4.6.4 MTP Message Encryption

Encryption is not required for the UNIX domain socket MTP as all messages are exchanged between processes that reside internally within the device.

4.6.5 Handling Other UNIX Domain Socket Failures

If a USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket client or server receives a TLV Message that cannot be parsed, a UNIX domain socket Frame containing a Type 2 (Error) TLV field is sent in response and the UNIX domain socket connection gets closed.

R-UDS.24 - A USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket client or server MUST send a UNIX domain socket Frame containing a Type 2 (Error) TLV field and terminate the UNIX Domain Socket connection, if it can not parse an incoming UNIX domain socket Frame.

4.6.6 Error Handling

If a USP Endpoint receives a UNIX domain socket Frame containing a Type 2 (Error) TLV field, then it closes the UNIX domain socket connection.

R-UDS.25 - A USP Endpoint acting as a UNIX domain socket client or server that receives a UNIX domain socket Frame containing a Type 2 (Error) TLV field MUST terminate the UNIX domain socket connection.

5 Message Encoding

• 5.1 Parameter and Argument Value Encoding

USP requires a mechanism to serialize data to be sent over a Message Transfer Protocol. The description of each individual Message and the USP Record encoding scheme is covered in a section of this document and/or in the referenced specification. This version of the specification includes support for:

• Protocol Buffers Version 3 [4]

R-ENC.0 - An implementation using protocol buffers encoding to encode USP Messages (Requests, Responses, and Errors) MUST conform to the schema defined in usp-msg-1-3.proto.

R-ENC.1 - An implementation using protocol buffers encoding to encode USP Records MUST conform to the schema defined in usp-record-1-3.proto.

Protocol Buffers Version 3 uses a set of enumerated elements to coordinate encoding and decoding during transmission. It is intended that these remain backwards compatible, but new versions of the schema may contain new enumerated elements.

R-ENC.2 - If an Endpoint receives a USP payload containing an unknown enumeration value for a known field, the Endpoint MUST report the failure as described in R-MTP.5.

Protocol Buffers uses a datatype called oneof. This means that the element contains elements of one or more varying types.

R-ENC.3 - USP Records and USP Messages that contain an element of type oneof MUST include 1 and only 1 instance of the element, which MUST contain one of the possible elements.

R-ENC.4 - A USP Record that violates R-ENC.3 MUST be discarded.

R-ENC.5 - A USP Message that violates R-ENC.3 SHOULD return an error of type 7004 (Invalid Arguments).

5.1 Parameter and Argument Value Encoding

usp-msg-1-3.proto specifies that Parameter and argument values in USP Messages are represented as Protocol Buffers Version 3 strings (which are UTF-8-encoded).

This section specifies how Parameter and argument values are converted to and from Protocol Buffers Version 3 strings.

R-ENC.6 - Parameter and argument values MUST be converted to and from Protocol Buffers Version 3 strings using the string representations of the TR-106 Appendix I.4 [2] data types.

TR-106 Appendix I.4 states that “Parameters make use of a limited subset of the default SOAP data types”. The SOAP 1.1 specification [29] states that all SOAP simple types are defined by the XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes specification [30], and this is the ultimate reference.

In practice there should be few surprises, e.g., XML Schema Part 2, Section 3.3.22 [30] states that it has a lexical representation consisting of a finite-length sequence of decimal digits (#x30-#x39).

Some of the encoding rules are quite complicated, e.g. SOAP 1.1, Section 5.2.3 [29] states that base64 line length restrictions don’t apply to SOAP, and XML Schema Part 2, Section 3.2.7 [30] has a lot of detail about which aspects of ISO 8601 are and are not supported by the dateTime data type.

6 End to End Message Exchange

• 6.1 Exchange of USP Records within an E2E Session Context
• 6.2 Exchange of USP Records without an E2E Session Context
• 6.3 Validating the Integrity of the USP Record
• 6.4 Secure Message Exchange

USP Messages are exchanged between Controllers and Agents. In some deployment scenarios, the Controller and Agent have a direct connection. In other deployment scenarios, the messages exchanged by the Controller and Agent traverse multiple intermediate MTP Proxies. The latter deployment scenario typically occurs when the Agent or Controller is deployed outside the proximal or Local Area Network. In both types of scenarios, the End-to-End (E2E) message exchange capabilities of USP permit the:

• Exchange of USP Records within an E2E Session Context that allows for:
  • Integrity protection for non-payload fields
  • Protected and unprotected payloads
  • Segmentation and reassembly of E2E Messages that would be too large to transfer through the intermediate MTP Proxies.
• Exchange of USP Records without an E2E Session Context that allows for:
  • Integrity protection for non-payload fields
  • Unprotected payloads or protected payloads where the payload protection security mechanism doesn’t require a concept of a session (e.g., COSE)

Protected payloads provide a secure message exchange (confidentiality, integrity and identity authentication) through exchange of USP Messages that are secured by the originating and receiving USP Endpoints.

USP makes use of USP Records to exchange USP Messages between Endpoints, see Record Definition for a description of the USP Record fields.

R-E2E.1 - A receiving USP Endpoint MUST ignore any Record that does not contain its own Endpoint Identifier as the to_id field of the Record.

R-E2E.2 – A USP Record with record_type = session_context MUST contain at least one payload field, or a non-zero retransmit_id. (DEPRECATED)

Note: the R-E2E.2 requirement was deprecated in USP 1.2, because sending a Session Context Record without a payload is useful for restarting a Session Context

Note: the requirements below reference Objects and Parameters used to manage the E2E Session. These are specified in the Device:2 Data Model [3].

Note: The USP Record Encapsulation section was moved to USP Record Encapsulation in USP 1.2.

6.1 Exchange of USP Records within an E2E Session Context

When exchanging USP Records within an E2E Session Context, record_type of session_context is used, and all required parameters for record_type of session_context are supplied.

When a USP Record that is received within an E2E Session Context contains a USP Message request, its associated response or error message is sent within an E2E Session Context, unless otherwise specified (see Requests, Responses and Errors).

6.1.1 Establishing an E2E Session Context

For the exchange of USP Records within an E2E Session Context to happen between two USP Endpoints, an E2E Session Context (Session Context) is established between the participating USP Endpoints. The Session Context is uniquely identified within the USP Endpoint by the combination of the Session Identifier and remote USP Endpoint’s Identifier.

In USP, either a Controller or an Agent can begin the process of establishing a Session Context. This is done by the Controller or Agent sending a USP Record with a session_id field that is not currently associated with the Agent/Controller combination and a sequence_id field value of 1. Note that a Record with an empty payload can be used to establish a new Session Context.

R-E2E.3 – Session Context identifiers MUST be generated by the USP Endpoint that originates the session such that it is greater than 1 and scoped to the remote USP Endpoint.

When a Session Context had been previously established between an Agent and Controller and the remote USP Endpoint receives a USP Record with a different session_id field, the remote USP Endpoint will restart the Session Context using the new session_id field.

R-E2E.4 – When a USP Endpoint receives a USP Record from another USP Endpoint where there is no established Session Context, and the USP Record includes a Session Context identifier, and the USP Endpoint is configured to allow Session Context to be used with the other Endpoint, the USP Endpoint MUST start a new Session Context for the remote USP Endpoint, and initialize the sequence_id field to 1.

R-E2E.5 – At most one (1) Session Context is established between an Agent and Controller.

R-E2E.6 – When a USP Endpoint receives a USP Record from a remote USP Endpoint with a different Session Context identifier than was previously established, the receiving USP Endpoint MUST start a new Session Context for the remote USP Endpoint, using the session_id from the received USP Record, and initialize the sequence_id field to 1.

Note: Implementations need to consider if outstanding USP Messages that have not been transmitted to the remote USP Endpoint need to be transmitted within the newly established Session Context.

R-E2E.6a – When an Agent is configured not to allow Session Context or does not support Session Context and receives a USP Record initiating Session Context, the Agent MUST reply with a Disconnect Record and MUST include reason_code and reason fields indicating Session Context is not allowed (code 7106 from USP Record Errors).

When a Controller is configured to require Session Context and receives a Disconnect Record indicating Session Context is not allowed or supported by the Agent, the Controller is expected to terminate the MTP session.

R-E2E.6b – If an Agent needs to terminate a Session Context without terminating an existing MTP connection where Session Context is being used, it MUST send a Disconnect Record and MUST include reason_code and reason indicating Session Context is being terminated (code 7105 from USP Record Errors).

6.1.1.1 Session Context Expiration

Sessions Contexts have a lifetime and can expire. The expiration of the Session Context is handled by the Device.LocalAgent.Controller.{i}.E2ESession.SessionExpiration Parameter in the Agent. If the Agent does not see activity (an exchange of USP Records) within the Session Context, the Agent considers the Session Context expired and for the next interaction with the Controller a new Session Context is established.

R-E2E.7 – When a Session Context between a Controller or Agent expires the Agent MUST initiate a new Session Context upon the next interaction with the remote USP Endpoint or from a Session Context request by the remote USP Endpoint.

6.1.1.2 Exhaustion of Sequence Identifiers

USP Endpoints identify the USP Record using the sequence_id field. When the sequence_id field for a USP Record that is received or transmitted by a USP Endpoint nears the maximum value that can be handled by the USP Endpoint, the USP Endpoint will attempt to establish a new Session Context in order to avoid a rollover of the sequence_id field.

R-E2E.8 – When a USP Endpoint receives a USP Record with a value of the sequence_id field that is within 10,000 of the maximum size for the data type of the sequence_id field, the USP Endpoint MUST establish a new Session Context with the remote USP Endpoint.

R-E2E.9 – When a USP Endpoint transmits a USP Record with a value of the sequence_id field that is within 10,000 of the maximum size for the data type of the sequence_id field, the USP Endpoint MUST establish a new Session Context with the remote USP Endpoint upon its next contact with the remote USP Endpoint.

6.1.1.3 Failure Handling in the Session Context

In some situations, (e.g., TLS negotiation handshake) the failure to handle a received USP Record is persistent, causing an infinite cycle of “receive failure/request->session/establish->session/receive->failure” to occur. In these situations, the Agent enforces a policy as defined in this section regarding establishment of failed Session Contexts or failed interactions within a Session Context. The policy is controlled by the Device.LocalAgent.Controller.{i}.E2ESession.Enable Parameter.

R-E2E.10 – When retrying USP Records, the Agent MUST use the following retry algorithm to manage the retransmission Session Context establishment procedure:

The retry interval range is controlled by two Parameters, the minimum wait interval and the interval multiplier, each of which corresponds to a data model Parameter, and which are described in the table below. The factory default values of these Parameters MUST be the default values listed in the Default column. They MAY be changed by a Controller with the appropriate permissions at any time.

R-E2E.11 - Beginning with the tenth retry attempt, the Agent MUST choose from the fixed maximum range. The Agent will continue to retry a failed session establishment until a USP Message is successfully received by the Agent or until the SessionExpiration time is reached.

R-E2E.12 – Once a USP Record is successfully received, the Agent MUST reset the Session Context retry count to zero for the next Session Context establishment.

R-E2E.13 – If a reboot of the Agent occurs, the Agent MUST reset the Session Context retry count to zero for the next Session Context establishment.

6.1.2 USP Record Exchange

Once a Session Context is established, USP Records are created to exchange payloads in the Session Context. USP Records are uniquely identified by their originating USP Endpoint Identifier (from_id), Session Context identifier (session_id) and USP Record sequence identifier (sequence_id).

6.1.2.1 USP Record Transmission

When an originating USP Endpoint transmits a USP Record, it creates the USP Record with a monotonically increasing sequence identifier (sequence_id).

R-E2E.14 – When an originating USP Endpoint transmits a USP Record, it MUST set the sequence identifier of the first transmitted USP Record in the Session Context to 1.

R-E2E.15 – When an originating USP Endpoint transmits additional USP Records, the originating USP Endpoint MUST monotonically increase the sequence identifier from the last transmitted USP Record in the Session Context by one (1).

To communicate the sequence identifier of the last USP Record received by a receiving USP Endpoint to the originating USP Endpoint, whenever a USP Endpoint transmits a USP Record the originating USP Endpoint communicates the next sequence identifier of a USP Record it expects to receive in the expected_id field. The receiving USP Endpoint uses this information to maintain its buffer of outgoing (transmitted) USP Records such that any USP Records with a sequence identifier less than the expected_id can be removed from the receiving USP Endpoints buffer of transmitted USP Records for this Session Context.

R-E2E.16 – When an originating USP Endpoint transmits a USP Record, the originating USP Endpoint MUST preserve it in an outgoing buffer, for fulfilling retransmit requests, until the originating USP Endpoint receives a USP Record from the receiving USP Endpoint with a greater expected_id.

R-E2E.17 – When an originating USP Endpoint transmits a USP Record, the originating USP Endpoint MUST inform the receiving USP Endpoint of the next sequence identifier in the Session Context for a USP Record it expects to receive.

6.1.2.2 Payload Security within the Session Context

The value of the payload_security field defines the type of payload security that is performed in the Session Context. Once a Session Context is established the payload security stays the same throughout the lifetime of the Session Context.

R-E2E.18 – The originating USP Endpoint MUST use the same value in the payload_security field for all USP Records within a Session Context.

6.1.2.3 USP Record Reception

USP Records received by a USP Endpoint have information that is used by the receiving USP Endpoint to process:

1. The payload contained within the USP Record,
2. A request to retransmit a USP Record, and
3. The contents of the outgoing buffer to clear the USP Records that the originating USP Endpoint has indicated it has received from the receiving USP Endpoint.

As USP Records can be received out of order or not at all, the receiving USP Endpoint only begins to process a USP Record when the sequence_id field of the USP Record in the Session Context is the sequence_id field that the receiving USP Endpoint expects to receive. The following figure depicts the high-level processing for USP Endpoints that receive a USP Record.

R-E2E.19 – The receiving USP Endpoint MUST ensure that the value in the payload_security field for all USP Records within a Session Context is the same and fail the USP Record if the value of the payload_security field is different.

R-E2E.20 – Incoming USP Records MUST be processed per the following rules:

1. If the USP Record contains a sequence_id field larger than the next expected_id value, the USP Record is added to an incoming buffer of unprocessed USP Records.
2. If the sequence_id is less that the next expected_id, the Endpoint MUST gracefully ignore the USP Record.
3. If the sequence_id matches the expected_id, for the USP Record and any sequential USP Records in the incoming buffer:
   1. If the payload is not empty, it is passed to the implementation for processing based on the type of payload in the payload_security field and if the payload requires reassembly according to the values of the payload_sar_state and payloadrec_sar_state fields.
   2. If a retransmit_id field is non-zero, the USP Record with the sequence identifier of the retransmit_id field is resent from the outgoing buffer.
4. The expected_id field for new outgoing Records is set to sequence_id field + 1 of this USP Record.

6.1.2.3.1 Failure Handling of Received USP Records Within a Session Context

When a receiving USP Endpoint fails to either buffer or successfully process a USP Record, the receiving USP Endpoint initiates a new Session Context.

R-E2E.21 – When a USP Endpoint that receives a USP Record within a Session Context that fails to buffer or successfully process (e.g., decode, decrypt, retransmit) the USP Endpoint MUST start a new Session Context.

6.1.2.4 USP Record Retransmission

An Agent or Controller can request to receive USP Records that it deems as missing at any time within the Session Context. The originating USP Endpoint requests a USP Record from the receiving USP Endpoint by placing the sequence identifier of the requested USP Record in the retransmit_id field of the USP Record to be transmitted.

The receiving USP Endpoint will determine if USP Record exists and then re-send the USP Record to the originating USP Endpoint.

If the USP Record doesn’t exist, the USP Endpoint that received the USP Record will consider the USP Record as failed and perform the failure processing as defined in section Failure Handling of Received USP Records.

To guard against excessive requests to retransmit a specific USP Record, the USP Endpoint checks to see if the number of times the USP Record has been retransmitted is greater than or equal to maximum times a USP Record can be retransmitted as defined in the Device.LocalAgent.Controller.{i}.E2ESession.MaxRetransmitTries Parameter. If this condition is met, then the USP Endpoint that received the USP Record with the retransmit request will consider the USP Record as failed and perform the failure processing as defined in section Failure Handling of Received USP Records.

6.1.3 Guidelines for Handling Session Context Restarts

A Session Context can be restarted for a number of reasons (e.g., sequence id exhaustion, errors, manual request). When a Session Context is restarted, the USP Endpoints could have USP Records that have not been transmitted, received or processed. This section provides guidance for USP Endpoints when the Session Context is restarted.

The originating Endpoint is responsible for determining the policy for recovering from USP Records that were not transmitted. For example, the policy could be to resend the USP Message conveyed through the USP Record, or to simply discard the USP Message.

R-E2E.22 – The receiving USP Endpoint MUST successfully process the USP Record through the expected_id field that it last transmitted in the previous session.

When a USP Endpoint receives a USP Record that cannot pass an integrity check or that has an incorrect value in the session_id field, the Session Context is restarted.

R-E2E.23 – USP Records that do not pass integrity checks MUST be silently ignored and the receiving USP Endpoint MUST restart the Session Context.

This allows keys to be distributed and enabled under the old session keys and then request a session restarted under the new keys.

R-E2E.24 – USP Records that pass the integrity check but have an invalid value in the session_id field MUST be silently ignored and the receiving USP Endpoint MUST restart the Session Context.

6.1.4 Segmented Message Exchange

Since USP can use different types of MTPs, some MTPs place a constraint on the size of the USP Record that it can transport. To handle this, USP has a Segmentation and Reassembly function. When this Segmentation and Reassembly function is performed by Controller and Agent, it removes the possibly that the message may be blocked (and typically) dropped by the intermediate transport servers. A Segmentation and Reassembly example is shown in the figure below where the ACS Controller segments the USP Message within the USP Record of 64K bytes because the STOMP MTP Endpoint (in this example) can only handle frame body up to 64K bytes.

While the sequence_id field identifies the USP Record sequence identifier within the context of a Session Context and the retransmit_id field provides a means of a receiving USP Endpoint to indicate to the transmitting USP Endpoint that it needs a specific USP Record to ensure information fields are processed in a first-in-first-out (FIFO) manner, the Segmentation and Reassembly function allows multiple payloads to be segmented by the transmitting USP Endpoint and reassembled by the receiving USP Endpoint by augmenting the USP Record with additional information fields without changing the current semantics of the USP Record’s field definitions. This is done using the payload_sar_state and payloadrec_sar_state fields in the USP Record to indicate status of the segmentation and reassembly procedure. This status along with the existing sequence_id, expected_id and retransmit_id fields and the foreknowledge of the maximum allowed USP Record size (configurable by the Device.LocalAgent.Controller.{i}.E2ESession.MaxUSPRecordSize parameter) provide the information needed for two USP Endpoints to perform segmentation and reassembly of payloads conveyed by USP Records. In doing so, the constraint imposed by MTP Endpoints (that could be intermediate MTP Endpoints) that do not have segmentation and reassembly capabilities are alleviated. USP Messages of any size can now be conveyed across any USP MTP Endpoint as depicted below:

Note: the 64k size limit is not inherent to the STOMP protocol. It is merely provided here as an example.

Note: for other protocols (e.g., MQTT), the maximum allowed size by the MTP may also include its own header size, not only the conveyed payload (e.g., MQTT packet size). In this case, the MaxUSPRecordSize value must be a smaller value than the maximal size of the MTP.

6.1.4.1 SAR function algorithm

The following algorithm is used to provide the SAR function.

6.1.4.1.1 Originating USP Endpoint

For each USP Message segment the Payload:

1. Compose the USP Message.
2. If payload_security is TLS12, encrypt the USP Message. TLS will segment the encrypted Message per the maximum allowed TLS record size.
   1. If all TLS records + Record header fields are less than the maximum allowed USP Record size, then a single USP Record is sent.
   2. Otherwise segmentation of the USP Record will need to be done.
      1. If the record size of a single TLS record + USP Record header fields is less than the maximum allowed USP Record size, exactly one TLS record can be included in a USP Record.
      2. If the TLS record size + Record header fields is greater than the maximum allowed USP Record size, the TLS record is segmented across multiple USP Records.
3. If the Message is transmitted using PLAINTEXT and the Message + Record header fields are greater than the maximum allowed USP Record size, the USP Record is segmented.
4. Set the payload_sar_state field for each transmitted Record.
   1. If there is only one Record, payload_sar_state = NONE (0).
   2. If there is more than one USP Record, the payload_sar_state field is set to BEGIN (1) on the first Record, COMPLETE (3) on the last Record, and INPROCESS (2) on all Records between the two.
5. Set the payloadrec_sar_state field for each transmitted Record.
   1. If there is only one Record or one Secure Message Exchange TLS record per USP Record, payloadrec_sar_state = NONE (0).
   2. If Secure Message Exchange TLS records or a PLAINTEXT payload are segmented across multiple USP Records, payloadrec_sar_state = BEGIN (1) on a Record that contains the initial segment of a TLS record or PLAINTEXT payload, COMPLETE (3) on a Record that contains the final segment of a TLS record or PLAINTEXT payload, and INPROCESS (2) on all Records containing segments between initial and final segments of a TLS record or PLAINTEXT payload.
6. Each Record is sent (within a Session Context) using the procedures defined in the USP Record Message Exchange section above.

The effect of the above rules for PLAINTEXT payloads or for Secure Message Exchange with a single TLS record is that payloadrec_sar_state will be the same as payload_sar_state for all Records used to communicate the USP Message.

Note: The maximum allowed USP Record size can be exposed via the data model using the Device.LocalAgent.Controller.{i}.E2ESession.MaxUSPRecordSize Parameter.

6.1.4.1.2 Receiving Endpoint

For each USP Message reassemble the segmented payload:

1. When a USP Record that indicates segmentation has started, store the USP Records until a USP Record is indicated to be complete. A completed segmentation is where the USP Record’s payload_sar_state and payloadrec_sar_state have a value of COMPLETE (3).
2. Follow the procedures in USP Record Retransmission to retransmit any USP Records that were not received.
3. Once the USP Record is received that indicates that the segmentation is complete, reassemble the payload by appending the payloads using the monotonically increasing sequence_id field’s value from the smaller number to larger sequence numbers. The reassembly keeps the integrity of the instances of the payload field’s payload records. To keep the integrity of the payload record, the payload record is reassembled using the payloadrec_sar_state values.
4. Reassembly of the payload that represents the USP Message is complete.

If the segmentation and reassembly fails for any reason, the USP Endpoint that received the segmented USP Records will consider the last received USP Record as failed and perform the failure processing as defined in section Failure Handling of Received USP Records.

6.1.4.2 Segmentation Examples

The following examples show the values assigned to payload_sar_state and payloadrec_sar_state fields for various permutations of payload_security, and maximum USP Record size and Secure Message Exchange maximum TLS record size relative to the size of the USP Message. The examples are not exhaustive.

Case 1: payload_security = PLAINTEXT, single USP Record

Conditions:

1. Maximum USP Record size > size of (USP Message + USP Record header)

Case 2: payload_security = PLAINTEXT, fragmented across multiple USP Records

Conditions:

1. Maximum USP Record size < size of (USP Message + USP Record header)

Case 3: payload_security = TLS12, single TLS record, single USP Record

Conditions:

1. Maximum TLS record size > size of (USP Message + TLS record header)
2. Maximum USP Record size > size of USP Message + size of TLS record header + size of USP Record header

Case 4: Payload_security = TLS12, all TLS records in a single USP Record

Conditions:

1. Maximum TLS record size < size of (USP Message + TLS record header)
2. Maximum USP Record size > size of all TLS records + size of USP Record header

Case 5: Payload_security = TLS12, single TLS record fragmented across multiple USP Records

Conditions:

1. Maximum TLS record size > size of (USP Message + TLS record header)
2. Maximum USP Record size < size of (TLS record + USP Record header)

Case 6: Payload_security = TLS12, multiple TLS records, one TLS record per USP Record

Conditions:

1. Maximum TLS record size < size of (USP Message + TLS record header)
2. Maximum USP Record size > maximum TLS record size + size of USP Record header
3. Maximum USP Record size < size of USP Message + size of TLS record header + size of USP Record header

Case 7: Payload_security = TLS12, multiple TLS records, some TLS records fragmented across multiple USP Records

Conditions:

1. Maximum TLS record size < size of (USP Message + TLS record header)
2. Maximum USP Record size < size of (some TLS records + USP Record header)

6.1.5 Handling Duplicate USP Records

Circumstances may arise (such as multiple Message Transfer Protocols, retransmission requests) that cause duplicate USP Records (those with an identical sequence_id and session_id fields from the same USP Endpoint) to arrive at the target USP Endpoint.

R-E2E.25 - When exchanging USP Records with an E2E Session Context, if a target USP Endpoint receives a USP Record with duplicate sequence_id and session_id fields from the same originating USP Endpoint, it MUST gracefully ignore the duplicate USP Record.

6.2 Exchange of USP Records without an E2E Session Context

When the exchange of USP Records without an E2E Session Context is used, the record_type is set to no_session_context.

When a USP Record that is received without an E2E Session Context contains a USP Message request, its associated response or error message is sent without an E2E Session Context, unless otherwise specified (see Requests, Responses and Errors).

R-E2E.26 - A record_type of no_session_context MUST be used for exchange of USP Records without an E2E Session Context. A non-zero payload MUST be included.

6.2.1 Failure Handling of Received USP Records Without a Session Context

When a receiving USP Endpoint fails to either buffer or successfully process a USP Record, the receiving USP Endpoint reports a failure.

R-E2E.27 (DEPRECATED) - When a USP Endpoint that receives a USP Record without a Session Context that fails to buffer or successfully process (e.g., decode, decrypt, retransmit) the USP Endpoint SHOULD send a DisconnectRecord (as described in R-MTP.7 for Agents).

Note: Requirement R-E2E.27 was removed in USP 1.3, replaced by the behavior defined in R-MTP.5

Note that R-MTP.7 says Agents should send a DisconnectRecord when terminating an MTP. Controllers can also send a DisconnectRecord in this case. The MTP can stay connected. Brokered MTP sessions are expected to remain but other MTP connections could be closed.

6.3 Validating the Integrity of the USP Record

When a USP Record is transmitted to a USP Endpoint, the transmitting USP Endpoint has the capability to protect the integrity of the non-payload fields of the USP Record. The payload field is not part of the generation or verification process, as the expectation is that this element will be secured using an E2E security protection mechanism (payload_security other than PLAINTEXT).

The integrity of the USP Record is required to be validated when the USP Record cannot be protected by the underlying MTP.

R-E2E.28 - When a USP Record is received or transmitted the following conditions MUST apply for the USP Record to be considered protected by the underlying MTP:

• The MTP is encrypted per requirements in the applicable MTP section
• The peer MTP certificate contains an Endpoint ID and this Endpoint ID is the same as the USP Record from_id field OR the peer MTP certificate is directly associated (e.g., referenced from a Device.LocalAgent.Controller.{i}.Credential Parameter) with a Controller whose Endpoint ID matches the USP Record from_id field.
• The peer MTP certificate is that of a Trusted Broker.

R-E2E.29 – Unless protected by the underlying MTP, when a USP Endpoint transmits a USP Record, the USP Endpoint MUST protect the integrity of the non-payload portion of the USP Record.

R-E2E.30 – When a USP Endpoint receives a USP Record, the USP Endpoint MUST verify the integrity of the non-payload portion of the USP Record when the USP Record contains the mac_signature field or the USP Endpoint is not protected by the underlying MTP.

The integrity of the non-payload fields is accomplished by the transmitting USP Endpoint generating a Message Authentication Code (MAC) or signature of the non-payload fields which is then placed into the mac_signature field where the receiving USP Endpoint then verifies the MAC or signature as appropriate. The method to generate and validate MAC or signature depends on the value of the payload_security field. If the value of the payload_security field is PLAINTEXT then the integrity validation method always uses the signature method described in section Using the Signature Method to Validate the Integrity of USP Records. If the value of the payload_security field is TLS12 then the validation method that is used is dependent on whether the TLS handshake has been completed. If the TLS handshake has not been completed, the signature method described in section Using the Signature Method to Validate the Integrity of USP Records is used otherwise the MAC method described in section Using TLS to Validate the Integrity of USP Records is used.

6.3.1 Using the Signature Method to Validate the Integrity of USP Records

When the transmitting USP Endpoint protects the integrity of the non-payload fields of the USP Record using the signature method in this section, the non-payload fields are protected by signing a hash of the non-payload fields using the private key of the sending USP Endpoint’s certificate. The receiving USP Endpoint then verifies the integrity using either the public key of the certificate in the USP Record sender_cert field or of the certificate used for Secure Message Exchange.

This signature method uses the SHA-256 hash algorithm, as defined in FIPS PUB 180-4 Secure Hash Standard (SHS) [25], and the NIST P-256 curve that generates a signature for the hash using the Digital Signature Standard (DSS) scheme as defined in FIPS PUB 186-4 Digital Signature Standard (DSS) [26]. To reduce the burden of requiring a strong source of randomness, the signature algorithm may apply the method described in RFC 6979 [23] to deterministically derive encryption parameters. The signature must be ASN.1 DER-encoded as described in RFC 3279 [12], we will refer to this signature scheme as ECDSA_P256_SHA256_ASN1 in this specification.

R-E2E.31 – When using the signature method to protect the integrity of the non-payload portion of the USP Record, the transmitting USP Endpoint MUST protect the integrity using the ECDSA_P256_SHA256_ASN1 signature scheme, as defined in this specification, to sign and verify the protection. The transmitting USP Endpoint MUST create the signature using the private key of the transmitting USP Endpoint’s certificate. The receiving USP Endpoint MUST verify the signature using the public key of the transmitted sender’s certificate.

6.3.2 Using TLS to Validate the Integrity of USP Records

When the transmitting and receiving USP Endpoints have established a TLS session, the transmitting USP Endpoint no longer needs to generate a signature or transmit the sender’s certificate with the USP Record. Instead the transmitting USP Endpoint generates a MAC that is verified by the receiving USP Endpoint. The MAC ensures the integrity of the non-payload fields of the USP Record. The MAC mechanism used in USP for this purpose is the SHA-256 keyed-Hash Message Authentication Code (HMAC) algorithm. The keys used for the HMAC algorithm are derived in accordance with RFC 5705 [16] when using TLS 1.2 or in accordance with the updated version found in RFC 8446 [24] when using TLS 1.3. These procedures require the following inputs: a label, a context and the length of the output keying material. The label used must be “EXPORTER-BBF-USP-Record”, the context must be empty (note that, for TLS 1.2, an empty context, i.e. zero length, is different than no context at all) and the output length must be 64 octets, where the first 32 octets will be used as the client key and the other 32 octets as the server key (in TLS terms). When using TLS 1.2, the PRF used must be the one defined in RFC 5246 [33] with SHA-256 Hash.

R-E2E.32 – When generating or validating the MAC or signature to protect the integrity of the USP Record, the sequence of the non-payload fields MUST use the field identifier of the USP Record’s protobuf specification proceeding from lowest to highest. The non-payload fields in the Record definition (other than the mac_signature field itself) MUST be used first and then the fields of the SessionContextRecord if applicable.

R-E2E.32.1 – When generating or validating the MAC or signature, all non-payload fields MUST be appended as byte arrays and fed into the MAC or signature generation function with the following conditions:

• uint64 types MUST be passed as 8 bytes in big endian ordering
• uint32 types MUST be passed as 4 bytes in big endian ordering
• enum types MUST be treated as uint32
• string types MUST be passed as UTF-8 encoded byte array
• bytes types MUST be passed as is

R-E2E.33 – If using the TLS MAC method to protect the integrity of a USP Record, and a USP Endpoint receives a USP Record, the USP Endpoint MUST verify the MAC using the SHA-256 HMAC algorithm for the non-payload portion of the USP Record.

R-E2E.34 – If using the TLS MAC method to protect the integrity of a USP Record, when generating or validating the MAC of the USP Record, the sequence of the non-payload fields MUST use the field identifier of the USP Record’s protobuf specification proceeding from lowest to highest.

R-E2E.35 – If using the TLS MAC method to protect the integrity of a USP Record, when generating or validating the MAC of the USP Record, the USP Endpoint MUST derive the keys in accordance with RFC 5705 [16] when using TLS 1.2 or with accordance with RFC 8446 [24] when using TLS 1.3.

R-E2E.36 – If using the TLS MAC method to protect the integrity of a USP Record, when generating or validating the MAC of the USP Record, the USP Endpoint MUST use a label value of “EXPORTER-BBF-USP-Record” and a zero length context.

R-E2E.37 – If using the TLS MAC method to protect the integrity of a USP Record, when generating or validating the MAC of the USP Record, the USP Endpoint MUST generate 64 octets of keying material.

R-E2E.38 – If using the TLS MAC method to protect the integrity of a USP Record, when generating or validating the MAC of the USP Record, the USP Endpoint MUST use the TLS PRF defined in RFC 5246 [33] with SHA-256 Hash when using TLS 1.2 for End-to-End security.

R-E2E.39 – If using the TLS MAC method to protect the integrity of a USP Record, when generating the MAC of the USP Record, the USP Endpoint MUST use the first 32 octets of the keying material as the client key and the other 32 octets as the server key.

6.4 Secure Message Exchange

While message transport bindings implement point-to-point security, the existence of broker-based message transports and transport proxies creates a need for end-to-end security within the USP protocol. End-to-end security is established by securing the payloads prior to segmentation and transmission by the originating USP Endpoint and the decryption of reassembled payloads by the receiving USP Endpoint. The indication whether and how the USP Message has been secured is via the payload_security field. This field defines the security protocol or mechanism applied to the USP payload, if any. This section describes the payload security protocols supported by USP.

6.4.1 TLS Payload Encapsulation

USP employs TLS as one security mechanism for protection of USP payloads in Agent-Controller message exchanges.

While traditionally deployed over reliable streams, TLS is a record-based protocol that can be carried over datagrams, with considerations taken for reliable and in-order delivery. To aid interoperability, USP Endpoints are initially limited to a single cipher specification, though future revisions of the protocol may choose to expand cipher support.

R-E2E.40 – When using TLS to protect USP payloads in USP Records, USP Endpoints MUST implement TLS 1.2 or later (with backward compatibility to TLS 1.2) with the ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 cipher for TLS 1.2 and the TLS-AES128-GCM-SHA256 cipher for TLS 1.3.

R-E2E.40a - When using TLS to protect USP payloads in USP Records, USP Endpoints MUST use ECDHE for key exchange and MUST support the named group secp256r1 (NIST P-256 curve) for use in ECDHE.

R-E2E.40b - When using TLS to protect USP payloads in USP Records, USP Endpoints MUST use the ECDSA signature scheme with the NIST P-256 curve and SHA-256.

Note: The requirements listed above require a USP Endpoint to use X.509 certificates with an Elliptic-curve public key compatible with the NIST P-256 curve.

6.4.1.1 Session Handshake

When TLS is used as a payload protection mechanism for USP Message, TLS requires the use of the Session Context to negotiate its TLS session. The USP Endpoint that initiated the Session Context will act in the TLS client role when establishing the security layer. The security layer is constructed using a standard TLS handshake, encapsulated within one or more of the above-defined USP Record payload datagrams. Per the TLS protocol, establishment of a new TLS session requires two round-trips.

R-E2E.41 – USP Endpoints that specify TLS12 in the payload_security field MUST exchange USP Records within an E2E Session Context.

If the TLS session cannot be established for any reason, the USP Endpoint that received the USP Record will consider the USP Record as failed and perform the failure processing as defined in section Failure Handling of Received USP Records.

TLS provides a mechanism to renegotiate the keys of a TLS session without tearing down the existing session called TLS renegotiation. However, for E2E Message exchange in USP, TLS renegotiation is forbidden.

R-E2E.42 – USP Endpoints MUST NOT accept requests for TLS renegotiation when used for E2E Message exchange. USP Endpoints MAY send a TLS no_renegotiation alert in response to a request for renegotiation.

6.4.1.2 Authentication

USP relies upon peer authentication using X.509 certificates, as provided by TLS. Each USP Endpoint identifier is identified within an X.509 certificate. The rules for authentication are provided in Authentication and Authorization.

R-E2E.43 – USP Endpoints MUST be mutually authenticated using X.509 certificates.

Agents will authenticate Controllers according to rules for analysis of Controller certificates requirements in Analysis of Controller Certificates. Controllers will authenticate Agents using the USP Endpoint identifier encoded in the Agent’s certificate as per Agent Authentication

7 Messages

• 7.1 Encapsulation in a USP Record
• 7.2 Requests, Responses and Errors
• 7.3 Message Structure
• 7.4 Creating, Updating, and Deleting Objects
• 7.5 Reading an Agent’s State and Capabilities
• 7.6 Notifications and Subscription Mechanism
• 7.7 Defined Operations Mechanism
• 7.8 Error Codes

USP contains messages to create, read, update, and delete Objects, perform Object-defined operations, and allow Agents to notify controllers of events. This is often referred to as CRUD with the addition of O (operate) and N (notify), or CRUD-ON.

Note: This version of the specification defines its Messages in Protocol Buffers v3. This part of the specification may change to a more generic description (normative and non-normative) if further encodings are specified in future versions.

These sections describe the types of USP Messages and the normative requirements for their flow and operation. USP Messages are described in a protocol buffers schema, and the normative requirements for the individual fields of the schema are outlined below.

7.1 Encapsulation in a USP Record

All USP Messages are encapsulated by a USP Record. The definition of the USP Record portion of a USP Message can be found in Record Definition, and the rules for managing transactional integrity are described in End to End Message Exchange.

7.2 Requests, Responses and Errors

The three types of USP Messages are Request, Response, and Error.

A request is a Message sent from a source USP Endpoint to a target USP Endpoint that includes fields to be processed and returns a response or error. Unless otherwise specified, all requests have an associated response. Though the majority of requests are made from a Controller to an Agent, the Notify and Register Messages follow the same format as a request but is sent from an Agent to a Controller.

R-MSG.0 - The target USP Endpoint MUST respond to a request Message from the source USP Endpoint with either a response Message or Error Message, unless otherwise specified (see The Operate Message and The Notify Message).

R-MSG.0a - The associated response or error Message MUST be sent through the same type of USP Record (i.e. A record_type of session_context or no_session_context) used along the associated request Message.

R-MSG.1 - The target USP Endpoint MUST ignore or send an Error Message in response to Messages it does not understand.

Note: Requirement R-MSG.2 was removed in USP 1.2, because it did not align with the concept of brokered MTPs and long-lived connections in general.

R-MSG.3 - In any USP Message originating from an Agent, unless otherwise specified, Path Names reported from the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model MUST use Instance Number Addressing.

7.2.1 Handling Duplicate Messages

Circumstances may arise (such as multiple Message Transfer Protocols) that cause duplicate Messages (those with an identical Message ID) to arrive at the target USP Endpoint.

R-MSG.4 - If a target USP Endpoint receives a Message with a duplicate Message ID before it has processed and sent a Response or Error to the original Message, it MUST gracefully ignore the duplicate Message.

For Messages that require no response, it is up to the target Endpoint implementation when to allow the same Message ID to be re-used by the same source USP Endpoint.

7.2.2 Handling Search Expressions

Many USP Messages allow for search expressions to be used in the request. To help make Controller requests more flexible, it is desired that requests using search expressions that match zero Objects should receive a successful response. In these cases, the Agent is in the desired state the Controller intends, and the result should not interrupt the Controller’s application.

In the Messages below, this requirement is sometimes explicit, but it is stated here as a general requirement.

R-MSG.4a - Unless otherwise specified, if a Request contains a Search Path, the associated Response MUST result in a successful operation with an empty element (i.e. oper_success{}) if the Search Path matches zero Objects in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model.

7.2.3 Example Message Flows

Successful request/response: In this successful Message sequence, a Controller sends an Agent a request. The Message header and body are parsed, the Message is understood, and the Agent sends a response with the relevant information in the body.

Note: this is not meant to imply that all request/response operations will be synchronous. Controllers can and should expect that Responses may be received in a different order than that in which Requests were made.

Failed request/response: In this failed Message sequence, a Controller sends an Agent a request. The Message header and body are parsed, but the Agent throws an error. The error arguments are generated and sent in an Error Message.

7.3 Message Structure

A Message consists of a header and body. When using Protocol Buffers [4], the fields of the header and body for different Messages are defined in a schema and sent in an encoded format from one USP Endpoint to another.

R-MSG.5 - A Message MUST conform to the schemas defined in usp-msg-1-3.proto.

See the section on USP Record Encapsulation for information about Protocol Buffers default behavior and required fields.

Every USP Message contains a header and a body. The header contains basic destination and coordination information, and is separated to allow security and discovery mechanisms to operate. The body contains the message itself and its arguments.

Each of the Message types and fields below are described with the field type according to Protocol Buffers [4], followed by its name.

7.3.1 The USP Message

Header header

R-MSG.6 - A Message MUST contain exactly one header field.

Body body

The Message Body that must be present in every Message. The Body field contains either a Request, Response, or Error field.

R-MSG.7 - A Message MUST contain exactly one body field.

7.3.2 Message Header

The Message Header includes a Message ID to associate Requests with Responses or Errors, and a field indicating the type of Message.

The purpose of the Message Header is to provide basic information necessary for the target Endpoint to process the message.

7.3.2.1 Message Header Fields

string msg_id

A locally unique opaque identifier assigned by the Endpoint that generated this Message.

R-MSG.8 - The msg_id field MUST be present in every Header.

R-MSG.9 - The msg_id field in the Message Header for a Response or Error that is associated with a Request MUST contain the Message ID of the associated request. If the msg_id field in the Response or Error does not contain the Message ID of the associated Request, the response or error MUST be ignored.

enum MsgType msg_type

This field contains an enumeration indicating the type of message contained in the Message body. It is an enumeration of:

    ERROR (0)
    GET (1)
    GET_RESP (2)
    NOTIFY (3)
    SET (4)
    SET_RESP (5)
    OPERATE (6)
    OPERATE_RESP (7)
    ADD (8)
    ADD_RESP (9)
    DELETE (10)
    DELETE_RESP (11)
    GET_SUPPORTED_DM (12)
    GET_SUPPORTED_DM_RESP (13)
    GET_INSTANCES (14)
    GET_INSTANCES_RESP (15)
    NOTIFY_RESP (16)
    GET_SUPPORTED_PROTO (17)
    GET_SUPPORTED_PROTO_RESP (18)
    REGISTER (19)
    REGISTER_RESP (20)
    DEREGISTER (21)
    DEREGISTER_RESP (22)

R-MSG.10 - The msg_type field MUST be present in every Header. Though required, it is meant for information only. In the event this field differs from the req_type or resp_type in the Message body (respectively), the type given in either of those elements SHOULD be regarded as correct.

7.3.3 Message Body

The Message body contains the intended message and the appropriate fields for the Message type.

Every Message body contains exactly one message and its fields. When an Agent is the target Endpoint, these messages can be used to create, read, update, and delete Objects, or execute Object-defined operations. When a Controller is the target Endpoint, the Message will contain a notification, response, or an error.

7.3.3.1 Message Body Fields

oneof msg_body

This field contains one of the types given below:

Request request

This field indicates that the Message contains a request of a type given in the Request Message.

Response response

This field indicates that the Message contains a response of a type given in the Response Message.

Error error

This field indicates that the Message contains an Error Message.

7.3.3.2 Request Fields

oneof req_type

This field contains one of the types given below. Each indicates that the Message contains a Message of the given type.

    Get get
    GetSupportedDM get_supported_dm
    GetInstances get_instances
    Set set
    Add add
    Delete delete
    Operate operate
    Notify notify
    GetSupportedProtocol get_supported_protocol
    Register register
    Deregister deregister

7.3.3.3 Response Fields

oneof resp_type

This field contains one of the types given below. Each indicates that the Message contains a Message of the given type.

    GetResp get_resp
    GetSupportedDMResp get_supported_dm_resp
    GetInstancesResp get_instances_resp
    SetResp set_resp
    AddResp add_resp
    DeleteResp delete_resp
    OperateResp operate_resp
    NotifyResp notify_resp
    GetSupportedProtocolResp get_supported_protocol_resp
    RegisterResp register_resp
    DeregisterResp deregister_resp

7.3.3.4 Error Fields

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (see Error Codes) indicating the type of error that caused the overall Message to fail.

string err_msg

This field contains additional information about the reason behind the error.

repeated ParamError param_errs

This field is present in an Error Message in response to an Add, Set, or Delete Message when the allow_partial field is false and detailed error information is available for each Object or Parameter that have caused the Message to report an Error.

7.3.3.4.1 ParamError Fields

string param_path

This field contains a Path Name to the Object or Parameter that caused the error.

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (see Error Codes) indicating the type of error that caused the Message to fail.

string err_msg

This field contains additional information about the reason behind the error.

7.4 Creating, Updating, and Deleting Objects

The Add, Set, and Delete requests are used to create, configure and remove Objects that comprise Service fields.

7.4.1 Selecting Objects and Parameters

Each Add, Set, and Delete request operates on one or more Path Names. For the Add request, these Path Names are references to Multi-Instance Objects. For all other requests, these Path Names can contain either addressing based identifiers that match zero or one Object or search based identifiers that matches one or more Objects.

For Add and Set requests, each Object address or search is conveyed in a field that also contains a sub-field listing the Parameters to update in the matched Objects.

The Add response contains details about the success or failure of the creation of the Object and the Parameters set during its creation. In addition, it also returns those Parameters that were set by the Agent upon creation of the Object.

Note: The order of the data on the wire is not guaranteed to be in the order an implementation may require to process a Message piece by piece. Some common scenarios which an Agent will need to handle:

• In Objects containing a union Object, the union member Object will only exist after the discriminator Parameter was set to the associated value
• Key Parameters need only to have unique values after the whole Message has been processed
• All explicit and hidden data dependencies need to be accounted for, so if related Parameters are changed, the order in which they occur in the Message do not make any difference to the outcome

For example, a Controller wants to create a new Wi-Fi network on an Agent. It could use an Add Message with the following fields:

    add {
      allow_partial: false
      create_objs {
        obj_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID."
        param_settings {
          param: "LowerLayers"
          value: "Device.WiFi.Radio.1."
          required: true
        }
        param_settings {
          param: "SSID"
          value: "NewSSIDName"
          required: true
        }
      }
    }

The Agent’s response would include the Object created (with its instance identifier) and the Unique Key Parameters of the created Object as defined in the Device:2 Data Model [3]:

    add_resp {
      created_obj_results {
        requested_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID."
        oper_status {
          oper_success {
            instantiated_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID.4."
            unique_keys {
              key: "BSSID"
              value: "112233445566"
            }
            unique_keys {
              key: "Name"
              value: "GuestNetwork1"
            }
            unique_keys {
              key: "Alias"
              value: "cpe-alias-1"
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }

7.4.2 Unique Key Immutability

In order to maintain addressing integrity of Multi-Instance Objects, the following prescriptions are made on the use of Unique Keys.

R-KEY.1 - Non-functional Unique Keys (as defined in TR-106 [2]) MUST NOT change in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model after creation, as defined in R-ADD.5.

R-KEY.2 - Functional Unique Keys (as defined in TR-106 [2]) MAY change incidentally as part of normal operation, but any change MUST abide by the uniqueness rules (i.e., no conflict with other instances).

7.4.3 Using Allow Partial and Required Parameters

The Add, Set, and Delete requests contain a field called “allow_partial”. This field determines whether or not the Message should be treated as one complete configuration change, or a set of individual changes, with regards to the success or failure of that configuration.

For Delete, this is straightforward - if allow_partial is true, the Agent returns a Response Message with affected_paths and unaffected_path_errs containing the successfully deleted Objects and unsuccessfully deleted Objects, respectively. If allow_partial is false, the Agent will return an Error Message if any Objects fail to be deleted.

For the Add and Set Messages, Parameter updates contain a field called “required”. This details whether or not the update or creation of the Object should fail if a required Parameter fails.

This creates a hierarchy of error conditions for the Add and Set requests, such as:

Parameter Error -> Object Error -> Message Error

If allow_partial is true, but one or more required Parameters fail to be updated or configured, the creation or update of a requested Path Name fails. This results in an oper_failure in the oper_status field and updated_obj_result or created_obj_result returned in the Add or Set response.

If allow_partial is false, the failure of any required Parameters will cause the update or creation of the Object to fail, which will cause the entire Message to fail. In this case, the Agent returns an Error Message rather than a response Message.

Note: It is up to the individual implementation whether to abort and return an Error Message after the first error, or provide information about multiple failures.

If the Message was at least partially successful, the response will make use of the oper_success field to indicate the successfully affected Objects.

The oper_failure and oper_success fields as well as Error Messages contain a field called param_errs, which contains fields of type ParameterError or ParamError. This is so that the Controller will receive the details of failed Parameter updates regardless of whether or not the Agent returned a Response or Error Message.

The logic can be described as follows:

7.4.3.1 Search Paths and allow_partial in Set

In a Set Request that specifies a Search Path that matches multiple objects, it is intended that the Agent treats the requested path holistically regardless of the value of allow_partial. This represents a special case. Information about the failure reason for any one or more objects that failed to be created or updated is still desired, but would be lost if an Error message was returned rather than a Response message containing OperationFailure elements. See R-SET.2a and R-SET.2b for the specific requirements.

7.4.4 The Add Message

The Add Message is used to create new Instances of Multi-Instance Objects in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model.

7.4.4.1 Add Example

In this example, the Controller requests that the Agent create a new instance in the Device.LocalAgent.Controller table.

header {
  msg_id: "52867"
  msg_type: ADD
}
body {
  request {
    add {
      allow_partial: true
      create_objs {
        obj_path: "Device.LocalAgent.Controller."
        param_settings {
          param: "Enable"
          value: "true"
          required: false
        }
        param_settings {
          param: "EndpointID"
          value: "controller-temp"
          required: false
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

header {
  msg_id: "52867"
  msg_type: ADD_RESP
}
body {
  response {
    add_resp {
      created_obj_results {
        requested_path: "Device.LocalAgent.Controller."
        oper_status {
          oper_success {
            instantiated_path: "Device.LocalAgent.Controller.3."
            unique_keys {
              key: "EndpointID"
              value: "controller-temp"
            }
            unique_keys {
              key: "Alias"
              value: "cpe-alias-3"
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

7.4.4.2 Add Request Fields

bool allow_partial

This field tells the Agent how to process the Message in the event that one or more of the Objects specified in the create_objs argument fails creation.

R-ADD.0 - If the allow_partial field is set to true, and no other exceptions are encountered, the Agent treats each Object matched in obj_path independently. The Agent MUST complete the creation of valid Objects regardless of the inability to create or update one or more Objects (see Using Allow Partial and Required Parameters).

R-ADD.1 - If the allow_partial field is set to false, and no other exceptions are encountered, the Agent treats each Object matched in obj_path holistically. A failure to create any one Object MUST cause the Add Message to fail and return an Error Message (see Using Allow Partial and Required Parameters).

repeated CreateObject create_objs

This field contains a repeated set of CreateObject fields.

7.4.4.2.1 CreateObject Fields

string obj_path

This field contains an Object Path to a writeable Table in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model.

R-ADD.2 - The obj_path field in the CreateObject Message of an Add Request MUST specify or match exactly one Object Path. (DEPRECATED)

Note: The R-ADD.2 requirement was deprecated in USP 1.3 because previous USP versions too narrowly restricted the usage of various paths in the obj_path field. If multiple paths are impacted, then the AddResp can contain multiple CreatedObjectResult instances that include the same requested_path.

repeated CreateParamSetting param_settings

This field contains a repeated set of CreateParamSetting fields.

7.4.4.2.1.1 CreateParamSetting Fields

string param

This field contains a Relative Path to a Parameter of the Object specified in obj_path, or  any Parameter in a nested tree of single instance Sub-Objects of the Object specified in obj_path.

Note: The Parameters that can be set in an Add Message are still governed by the permissions allowed to the Controller. Should a Controller attempt to create an Object when it does not have permission on one or more Parameters of that Object, the expected behavior is as follows:

• If the Add Message omits Parameters for which the Controller does not have write permission, those parameters will be set to their default (if any) by the Agent, and the Add Message succeeds.

• If the Add Message includes Parameters for which the Controller does not have write permission, the Message proceeds in accordance with the rules for allow_partial and required parameters.

string value

This field contains the value of the Parameter specified in the param field that the Controller would like to configure as part of the creation of this Object. Refer to Parameter and Argument Value Encoding for details of how Parameter values are encoded as Protocol Buffers v3 strings.

bool required

This field specifies whether the Agent should treat the creation of the Object specified in obj_path as conditional upon the successful configuration of this Parameter (see Using Allow Partial and Required Parameters).

Note: Any Unique Key Parameter contained in the Add Message will be considered as required regardless of how this field is set. This is to ensure that Unique Key constraints are met when creating the instance of the Object.

R-ADD.2a - If the allow_partial field is set to false and and the obj_path field contains a Search Expression, a failure in any of the Paths matched by the Search Expression MUST result in a failure and the state of the Data Model MUST NOT change.

R-ADD.3 - If the required field is set to true, a failure to update this Parameter MUST result in a failure to create the Object.

7.4.4.3 Add Response Fields

repeated CreatedObjectResult created_obj_results

A repeated set of CreatedObjectResult fields for each CreateObject field in the Add Message.

7.4.4.3.1 CreatedObjectResult Fields

string requested_path

This field returns the value of obj_paths in the CreateObject Message associated with this CreatedObjectResult.

OperationStatus oper_status

The field contains a Message of type OperationStatus that specifies the overall status for the creation of the Object specified in requested_path.

7.4.4.3.1.1 OperationStatus Fields

oneof oper_status

This field contains one of the types given below. Each indicates that the field contains a Message of the given type.

OperationFailure oper_failure

Used when the Object given in requested_path failed to be created.

OperationSuccess oper_success

Used when the Add Message was (at least partially) successful.

7.4.4.3.1.2 OperationFailure Fields

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (Error Codes) indicating the type of error that caused the Object creation to fail.

string err_msg

This field contains additional information about the reason behind the error.

7.4.4.3.1.3 Operation Success Fields

string instantiated_path

This field contains the Object Instance Path of the created Object.

repeated ParameterError param_errs

This field returns a repeated set of ParameterError messages.

R-ADD.4 - If any of the Parameters and values specified in the param_settings field fail to configure upon creation, this set MUST include one field describing each of the failed Parameters and the reason for their failure.

map<string, string> unique_keys

This field contains a map of the Relative Path and value for all of this Object’s Unique Key Parameters that are supported by the Agent.

R-ADD.5 - If the Controller did not include some or all of the Unique Key Parameters that are supported by the Agent in the param_settings field, the Agent MUST assign values to these Parameters and return them in the unique_keys field.

R-ADD.6 - If the Controller does not have Read permission on any of the Parameters returned in unique_keys, these Parameters MUST NOT be returned in this field.

7.4.4.3.1.4 ParameterError Fields

string param

This field contains the Relative Parameter Path to the Parameter that failed to be set.

fixed32 err_code

This field contains the numeric code (Error Codes) of the error that caused the Parameter set to fail.

string err_msg

This field contains text related to the error specified by err_code.

7.4.4.4 Add Message Supported Error Codes

Appropriate error codes for the Add Message include 7000-7019, 7026, and 7800-7999.

7.4.5 The Set Message

The Set Message is used to update the Parameters of existing Objects in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model.

7.4.5.1 Set Example

In this example the Controller requests that the Agent change the value of the FriendlyName Parameter in the Device.DeviceInfo. Object.

header {
  msg_id: "19220"
  msg_type: SET
}
body {
  request {
    set {
      allow_partial: true
      update_objs {
        obj_path: "Device.DeviceInfo."
        param_settings {
          param: "FriendlyName"
          value: "MyDevicesFriendlyName"
          required: true
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

header {
  msg_id: "19220"
  msg_type: SET_RESP
}
body {
  response {
    set_resp {
      updated_obj_results {
        requested_path: "Device.DeviceInfo."
        oper_status {
          oper_success {
            updated_inst_results {
              affected_path: "Device.DeviceInfo."
              updated_params {
                key: "FriendlyName"
                value: "MyDevicesFriendlyName"
              }
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

7.4.5.2 Set Request Fields

bool allow_partial

This field tells the Agent how to process the Message in the event that one or more of the Objects matched in the obj_path fails to update.

R-SET.0 - If the allow_partial field is set to true, and no other exceptions are encountered, the Agent treats each UpdateObject message obj_path independently. The Agent MUST complete the update of valid Objects regardless of the inability to update one or more Objects (see Using Allow Partial and Required Parameters).

Note: This may cause some counterintuitive behavior if there are no required Parameters to be updated. The Set Request can still result in a Set Response (rather than an Error Message) if allow_partial is set to true.

R-SET.1 - If the allow_partial field is set to false, and no other exceptions are encountered, the Agent treats each UpdateObject message obj_path holistically. A failure to update any one Object MUST cause the Set Message to fail and return an Error Message (see Using Allow Partial and Required Parameters).

repeated UpdateObject update_objs

This field contains a repeated set of UpdateObject messages.

7.4.5.2.1 UpdateObject Fields

string obj_path

This field contains an Object Path, Object Instance Path, or Search Path to Objects or Object Instances in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model.

repeated UpdateParamSetting param_settings

The field contains a repeated set of UpdatedParamSetting messages.

7.4.5.2.1.1 UpdateParamSetting Fields

string param

This field contains the Relative Path of a Parameter of the Object specified in obj_path.

string value

This field contains the value of the Parameter specified in the param field that the Controller would like to configure. Refer to Parameter and Argument Value Encoding for details of how Parameter values are encoded as Protocol Buffers v3 strings.

bool required

This field specifies whether the Agent should treat the update of the Object specified in obj_path as conditional upon the successful configuration of this Parameter.

R-SET.2 - If the required field is set to true, a failure to update this Parameter MUST result in a failure to update the Object (see Using Allow Partial and Required Parameters).

R-SET.2a - If the obj_path field in the UpdateObject message of a Set Request contains a Search Path matching more than one object, the Agent MUST treat the results of that obj_path holistically, regardless of the value of the allow_partial field. That is, if any object that matches the Search Path fails to be updated due to an error, the Agent MUST undo any changes that were already processed due to this obj_path, and the Agent MUST return a Set Response with an UpdatedObjectResult containing:

• A requested_path equal to the obj_path in the request.
• An oper_status field containing an OperationFailure message.
• At least one UpdatedInstanceFailure message with an affected_path that reflects the object that failed to update.

R-SET.2b - The Agent MAY terminate processing a Set Request with an obj_path field in the UpdateObject message that contains a Search Path matching more than one object after encountering any number of errors.

7.4.5.3 Set Response

repeated UpdatedObjectResult updated_obj_results

This field contains a repeated set of UpdatedObjectResult messages for each UpdateObject message in the associated Set Request.

7.4.5.3.1 UpdatedObjectResult Fields

string requested_path

This field returns the value of updated_obj_results in the UpdateObject message associated with this UpdatedObjectResult.

OperationStatus oper_status

The field contains a message of type OperationStatus that specifies the overall status for the update of the Object specified in requested_path.

7.4.5.3.1.1 OperationStatus Fields

oneof oper_status

This field contains a message of one of the following types.

OperationFailure oper_failure

Used when the Object specified in requested_path failed to be updated.

OperationSuccess oper_success

Used when the Set message was (at least partially) successful.

7.4.5.3.1.2 OperationFailure Fields

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (Error Codes) indicating the type of error that caused the Object update to fail.

string err_msg

This field contains additional information about the reason behind the error.

repeated UpdatedInstanceFailure updated_inst_failures

This field contains a repeated set of messages of type UpdatedInstanceFailure.

7.4.5.3.1.3 UpdatedInstanceFailure Fields

string affected_path

This field returns the Object Path or Object Instance Path of the Object that failed to update.

repeated ParameterError param_errs

This field contains a repeated set of ParameterError messages.

7.4.5.3.1.4 ParameterError Fields

string param

This field contains the Relative Parameter Path to the Parameter that failed to be set.

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (Error Codes) indicating the type of error that caused the Parameter set to fail.

string err_msg

This field contains text related to the error specified by err_code.

7.4.5.3.1.5 OperationSuccess Fields

repeated UpdatedInstanceResult updated_inst_results

This field contains a repeated set of UpdatedInstanceResult messages.

7.4.5.3.1.6 UpdatedInstanceResult Fields

string affected_path

This field returns the Object Path or Object Instance Path of the updated Object.

repeated ParameterError param_errs

This field contains a repeated set of ParameterError messages.

map<string, string> updated_params

This field returns a set of key/value pairs containing a Relative Parameter Path (relative to the affected_path) to each of the Parameters updated by the Set Request and its value after the update. Refer to Parameter and Argument Value Encoding for details of how Parameter values are encoded as Protocol Buffers v3 strings.

R-SET.3 - If the Controller does not have Read permission on any of the Parameters specified in updated_params, these Parameters MUST NOT be returned in this field.

Note: If the Set Request configured a Parameter to the same value it already had, this Parameter is still returned in the updated_params.

7.4.5.3.1.7 ParameterError Fields

string param

This field contains the Parameter Path to the Parameter that failed to be set.

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (Error Codes) indicating the type of error that caused the Parameter set to fail.

string err_msg

This field contains text related to the error specified by err_code.

7.4.5.4 Set Message Supported Error Codes

Appropriate error codes for the Set Message include 7000-7016, 7020, 7021, 7026, and 7800-7999.

7.4.6 The Delete Message

The Delete Message is used to remove Instances of Multi-Instance Objects in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model.

7.4.6.1 Delete Example

In this example, the Controller requests that the Agent remove the instance in Device.LocalAgent.Controller table that has the EndpointID value of “controller-temp”.

header {
  msg_id: "24799"
  msg_type: DELETE
}
body {
  request {
    delete {
      allow_partial: false
      obj_paths: 'Device.LocalAgent.Controller.[EndpointID=="controller-temp"].'
    }
  }
}

header {
  msg_id: "24799"
  msg_type: DELETE_RESP
}
body {
  response {
    delete_resp {
      deleted_obj_results {
        requested_path: 'Device.LocalAgent.Controller.[EndpointID=="controller-temp"].'
        oper_status {
          oper_success {
            affected_paths: "Device.LocalAgent.Controller.31185."
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

7.4.6.2 Delete Request Fields

bool allow_partial

This field tells the Agent how to process the Message in the event that one or more of the Objects specified in the obj_path argument fails deletion.

R-DEL.0 - If the allow_partial field is set to true, and no other exceptions are encountered, the Agent treats each entry in obj_path independently. The Agent MUST complete the deletion of valid Objects regardless of the inability to delete one or more Objects (see Using Allow Partial and Required Parameters).

R-DEL.1 - If the allow_partial field is set to false, the Agent treats each entry in obj_path holistically. Any entry referring to an Object which is non-deletable or doesn’t exist in the supported data model MUST cause the Delete Message to fail and return an Error Message.

repeated string obj_paths

This field contains a repeated set of Object Instance Paths or Search Paths.

7.4.6.3 Delete Response Fields

repeated DeletedObjectResult deleted_obj_results

This field contains a repeated set of DeletedObjectResult messages.

7.4.6.3.1 DeletedObjectResult Fields

string requested_path

This field returns the value of the entry of obj_paths (in the Delete Request) associated with this DeleteObjectResult.

OperationStatus oper_status

This field contains a message of type OperationStatus.

7.4.6.3.1.1 OperationStatus Fields

oneof oper_status

This field contains a message of one of the following types.

OperationFailure oper_failure

Used when the Object specified in requested_path failed to be deleted.

OperationSuccess oper_success

Used when the Delete Message was (at least partially) successful.

7.4.6.3.1.2 OperationFailure Fields

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (Error Codes) indicating the type of error that caused the delete to fail.

string err_msg

This field contains additional information about the reason behind the error.

7.4.6.3.1.3 OperationSuccess Fields

repeated string affected_paths

This field returns a repeated set of Path Names to Object Instances.

R-DEL.2 - If the Controller does not have Read permission on any of the Objects specified in affected_paths, these Objects MUST NOT be returned in this field.

R-DEL.2a - If the requested_path was valid (i.e., properly formatted and in the Agent’s supported data model) but did not resolve to any Objects in the Agent’s instantiated data model, the Agent MUST return an OperationSuccess for this requested_path, and include an empty set for affected_path.

repeated UnaffectedPathError unaffected_path_errs

This field contains a repeated set of messages of type UnaffectedPathError.

R-DEL.3 - This set MUST include one UnaffectedPathError message for each Object Instance that exists in the Agent’s instantiated data model and were matched by the Path Name specified in obj_path and failed to delete.

R-DEL.4 - If the Controller does not have Read permission on any of the Objects specified in unaffected_paths, these Objects MUST NOT be returned in this field.

7.4.6.3.1.4 UnaffectedPathError Fields

string unaffected_path

This field returns the Path Name to the Object Instance that failed to be deleted.

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (Error Codes) indicating the type of the error that caused the deletion of this Object to fail.

string err_msg

This field contains text related to the error specified by err_code.

7.4.6.4 Delete Message Supported Error Codes

Appropriate error codes for the Delete Message include 7000-7008, 7015, 7016, 7018, 7024, 7026 and 7800-7999.

7.5 Reading an Agent’s State and Capabilities

An Agent’s current state and capabilities are represented in its data model. The current state is referred to as its Instantiated Data Model, while the data model that represents its set of capabilities is referred to as its Supported Data Model. Messages exist to retrieve data from both the instantiated and Supported Data Models.

7.5.1 The Get Message

The basic Get Message is used to retrieve the values of a set of Object’s Parameters in order to learn an Agent’s current state. It takes a set of Path Names as an input and returns the complete tree of all Objects and Sub-Objects of any Object matched by the specified expressions, along with each Object’s Parameters and their values. The Search Paths specified in a Get request can also target individual Parameters within Objects to be returned.

Note: Those familiar with Broadband Forum TR-069 [1] will recognize this behavior as the difference between “Partial Paths” and “Complete Paths”. This behavior is replicated in USP for the Get Message for each Path Name that is matched by the expression(s) supplied in the request.

Note: Each Search Path is intended to be evaluated separately, and the results from a given Search Path are returned in a field dedicated to that Path Name. As such, it is possible that the same information may be returned from more than one Search Path. This is intended, and the Agent should treat each Search Path atomically.

The response returns a req_path_results entry for each Path Name given in param_paths. If a Path expression specified in the request does not match any valid Parameters or Objects, the response will indicate that this expression was an “Invalid Path”, indicating that the Object or Parameter does not currently exist in the Agent’s Supported Data Model.

Each req_path_results message given in the response contains a set of resolved_path_results messages for each Object and Sub-Object relative to the Path resolved by the param_paths element. Each results is followed by a list of Parameters (result_params) and their values. If there are no Parameters, result_params may be empty. These Parameter Paths are Relative Paths to the resolved_path. Note: This behavior has been clarified as of USP 1.2. Previous versions implied that Sub-Object Parameters be returned as Relative Paths to the original resolved_path in a single result_params list. In USP 1.2, each Sub-Object is returned in its own resolved_path.

The tree depth of a Get response can be limited by specifying a non-zero value for the max_depth field in Get request. If max_depth field is present and not 0 then the Agent will limit the maximum depth of each returned req_path_results to a tree rooted in requested_path with a depth specified by max_depth value.

Note: The max_depth field was introduced in USP 1.2. If this field is not present in a Get request or has a value of 0, the Agent returns the complete tree of all Objects and Sub-Objects of all the Path Names mentioned in param_paths. This is the same as the behavior specified for prior USP versions. An Agent implementing a prior version of the USP specification will ignore the field and behave as if the max_depth field was set to 0.

7.5.1.1 Get Examples

The following table illustrates the result params for one of the Path Names mentioned in param_paths is Device.DeviceInfo. and example values of the max_depth Get request field.

For example, a Controller wants to read the data model to learn the settings and Stats of a single Wi-Fi SSID, “HomeNetwork” with a BSSID of “00:11:22:33:44:55”. It could use a Get request with the following fields:

    get {
      param_paths: 'Device.WiFi.SSID.[SSID=="HomeNetwork"&&BSSID=="00:11:22:33:44:55"].'
      max_depth: 2
    }

In response to this request the Agent returns all Parameters, plus the Parameters of any Sub-Objects, of the addressed instance. Had max_depth been set to 1 then all of the SSID Parameters and their values would have been returned, but the Stats Sub-Object and its Parameters would have been omitted. The Agent returns this data in the Get response using a field for each of the requested Path Names. In this case:

    get_resp {
      req_path_results {
        requested_path: 'Device.WiFi.SSID.[SSID=="HomeNetwork"&&BSSID=="00:11:22:33:44:55"].'
        resolved_path_results {
          resolved_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID.1."
          result_params {
            key: "Enable"
            value: "true"
          }
          result_params {
            key: "Status"
            value: "Up"
          }
          result_params {
            key: "Alias"
            value: "cpe-alias-1"
          }
          result_params {
            key: "Name"
            value: "Home Network"
          }
          result_params {
            key: "LastChange"
            value: "864000"
          }
          result_params {
            key: "BSSID"
            value: "00:11:22:33:44:55"
          }
          result_params {
            key: "SSID"
            value: "HomeNetwork"
          }
        }

        resolved_path_results {
          resolved_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID.1.Stats."
          result_params {
            key: "BytesSent"
            value: "24901567"
          }
          result_params {
            key: "BytesReceived"
            value: "892806908296"
          }

#           (etc.)


        }
      }
    }

In another example, the Controller only wants to read the current status of the Wi-Fi network with the SSID “HomeNetwork” with the BSSID of 00:11:22:33:44:55. It could use a Get request with the following fields:

    get {
      param_paths: 'Device.WiFi.SSID.[SSID=="HomeNetwork"&&BSSID=="00:11:22:33:44:55"].Status'
    }

In response to this request the Agent returns only the Status Parameter and its value.

    get_resp {
      req_path_results {
        requested_path: 'Device.WiFi.SSID.[SSID=="HomeNetwork"&&BSSID=="00:11:22:33:44:55"].Status'
        resolved_path_results {
          resolved_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID.1."
          result_params {
            key: "Status"
            value: "Up"
          }
        }
      }
    }

Lastly, using wildcards or another Search Path, the requested Path Name may resolve to more than one resolved Path Names. For example for a Request sent to an Agent with two WiFi.SSID instances:

    get {
      param_paths: "Device.WiFi.SSID.*.Status"
    }

The Agent’s response would be:

    get_resp {
      req_path_results {
        requested_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID.*.Status"
        resolved_path_results {
          resolved_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID.1."
          result_params {
            key: "Status"
            value: "Up"
          }
        }
        resolved_path_results {
          resolved_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID.2."
          result_params {
            key: "Status"
            value: "Up"
          }
        }
      }
    }

In an example with full USP Message header and body, the Controller requests all Parameters of the MTP table entry that contains the Alias value “WS-MTP1”, and the value of the Enable Parameter of the Subscription table where the value of the Parameter ID is “boot-1” and the Recipient Parameter has a value of “Device.LocalAgent.Controller.1”:

header {
  msg_id: "5721"
  msg_type: GET
}
body {
  request {
    get {
      param_paths: 'Device.LocalAgent.MTP.[Alias=="WS-MTP1"].'
      param_paths: 'Device.LocalAgent.Subscription.[ID=="boot-1"&&Recipient=="Device.LocalAgent.Controller.1"].Enable'
    }
  }
}

header {
  msg_id: "5721"
  msg_type: GET_RESP
}
body {
  response {
    get_resp {
      req_path_results {
        requested_path: 'Device.LocalAgent.MTP.[Alias=="WS-MTP1"].'
        resolved_path_results {
          resolved_path: "Device.LocalAgent.MTP.5156."
          result_params {
            key: "Alias"
            value: "WS-MTP1"
          }
          result_params {
            key: "Enable"
            value: "true"
          }
          result_params {
            key: "Status"
            value: "Up"
          }
          result_params {
            key: "Protocol"
            value: "WebSocket"
          }
          result_params {
            key: "EnableMDNS"
            value: "false"
          }
        }
        resolved_path_results {
          resolved_path: "Device.LocalAgent.MTP.5156.WebSocket."
          result_params {
            key: "Interfaces"
            value: "Device.IP.Interface.1."
          }
          result_params {
            key: "Port"
            value: "5684"
          }
          result_params {
            key: "Path"
            value: "usp-controller"
          }
          result_params {
            key: "EnableEncryption"
            value: "true"
          }
        }
      }

      req_path_results {
        requested_path: 'Device.LocalAgent.Subscription.[ID=="boot-1"&&Recipient=="Device.LocalAgent.Controller.1"].Enable'
        err_code: 0
        err_msg: ""
        resolved_path_results {
          resolved_path: "Device.LocalAgent.Subscription.6629."
          result_params {
            key: "Enable"
            value: "true"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

7.5.1.2 Get Request Fields

repeated string param_paths

This field is a set of Object Paths, Object Instance Paths, Parameter Paths, or Search Paths to Objects and Parameters in an Agent’s Instantiated Data Model.

fixed32 max_depth

This field limits the maximum depth of each returned result_params tree to the depth specified by max_depth value. A value of 0 returns the complete tree of all Objects and Sub-Objects of all the Path Names mentioned in param_paths.

R-GET.5 - If the max_depth field is present and contains a value other than 0, then the Agent MUST limit the tree depth of the resolved Sub-Objects included in the resolved_path_results field of the Response to the specified value.

7.5.1.3 Get Response Fields

repeated RequestedPathResult req_path_results

A repeated set of RequestedPathResult messages for each of the Path Names given in the associated Get request.

7.5.1.3.1 RequestedPathResult Field

string requested_path

This field contains one of the Path Names or Search Paths given in the param_path field of the associated Get Request.

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (Error Codes) indicating the type of error that caused the Get to fail on this Path Names. A value of 0 indicates the Path Name could be read successfully.

R-GET.0 - If requested_path contains a Path Name (that is not a Search Path) that does not match any Object or Parameter in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model, or requested_path contains a Search Path that does not match any Object or Parameter in the Agent’s Supported Data Model, the Agent MUST use the 7026 - Invalid Path error in this RequestedPathResult.

R-GET.1 - If the Controller making the Request does not have Read permission on an Object or Parameter matched through the requested_path field, the Object or Parameter MUST be treated as if it is not present in the Agent’s Supported data model.

string err_msg

This field contains additional information about the reason behind the error.

repeated ResolvedPathResult resolved_path_results

This field contains one message of type ResolvedPathResult for each Path Name resolved by the Path Name or Search Path given by requested_path.

R-GET.1a - If the requested_path is a valid Search Path (i.e., properly formatted and in the Agent’s supported data model) but did not resolve to any Objects in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model, the resolved_path_results set MUST be empty and is not considered an error.

R-GET.1b - If the requested_path is a valid Object Path (i.e., properly formatted and in the Agent’s supported data model), which is not a Search Path, but the Object does not have any Sub-Objects or Parameters, the resolved_path_results set MUST be empty and is not considered an error.

7.5.1.3.1.1 ResolvedPathResult Fields

string resolved_path

This field contains a Path Name to an Object or Object Instance that was resolved from the Path Name or Search Path given in requested_path.

R-GET.2 - If the requested_path included a Path Name to a Parameter, the resolved_path MUST contain only the Path Name to the parent Object or Object Instance of that Parameter.

map<string, string> result_params

This field contains a set of mapped key/value pairs listing a Parameter Path (relative to the Path Name in resolved_path) to each of the Parameters and their values of the Object given in resolved_path. Refer to Parameter and Argument Value Encoding for details of how Parameter values are encoded as Protocol Buffers v3 strings.

R-GET.3 - If the requested_path included a Path Name to a Parameter, result_params MUST contain only the Parameter included in that Path Name.

R-GET.4 - If the Controller does not have Read permission on any of the Parameters specified in result_params, these Parameters MUST NOT be returned in this field. This MAY result in this field being empty.

7.5.1.4 Get Message Supported Error Codes

Appropriate error codes for the Get Message include 7000-7006, 7008, 7010, 7016, 7026 and 7800-7999.

7.5.2 The GetInstances Message

The GetInstances Message takes a Path Name to an Object and requests that the Agent return the Instances of that Object that exist and possibly any Multi-Instance Sub-Objects that exist as well as their Instances. This is used for getting a quick map of the Multi-Instance Objects (i.e., Tables) the Agent currently represents, and their Unique Key Parameters, so that they can be addressed and manipulated later.

GetInstances takes one or more Path Names to Multi-Instance Objects in a Request to an Agent. In addition, both GetInstances and GetSupportedDM (below) make use of a flag called first_level_only, which determines whether or not the Response should include all of the Sub-Objects that are children of the Object specified in obj_path. A value of true means that the Response returns data only for the Object specified. A value of false means that all Sub-Objects will be resolved and returned.

7.5.2.1 GetInstances Examples

For example, if a Controller wanted to know only the current instances of Wi-Fi SSID Objects that exist on an Agent (that has 2 SSIDs), it would send a GetInstances Request as:

    get_instances {
      obj_paths: "Device.WiFi.SSID."
      first_level_only: true
    }

The Agent’s Response would contain:

    get_instances_resp {
      req_path_results {
        requested_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID."
        curr_insts {
          instantiated_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID.1."
          unique_keys {
            key: "Alias"
            value: "UserWiFi1"
          }
          unique_keys {
            key: "Name"
            value: "UserWiFi1"
          }
          unique_keys {
            key: "BSSID"
            value: "00:11:22:33:44:55"
          }
        }

        curr_insts {
          instantiated_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID.2."
          unique_keys {
            key: "Alias"
            value: "UserWiFi2"
          }
          unique_keys {
            key: "Name"
            value: "UserWiFi2"
          }
          unique_keys {
            key: "BSSID"
            value: "11:22:33:44:55:66"
          }
        }
      }
    }

In another example, the Controller wants to get all of the Instances of the Device.WiFi.AccessPoint table, plus all of the instances of the AssociatedDevice Object and AC Object (Sub-Objects of AccessPoint). It would issue a GetInstances Request with the following:

    get_instances {
      obj_paths: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint."
      first_level_only: false
    }

The Agent’s Response will contain an entry in curr_insts for all of the Instances of the Device.WiFi.AccessPoint table, plus the Instances of the Multi-Instance Sub-Objects .AssociatedDevice. and .AC.:

    get_instances_resp {
      req_path_results {
        requested_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint."
        curr_insts {
          instantiated_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.1."
          unique_keys {
            key: "Alias"
            value: "cpe-alias-1"
          }
          unique_keys {
            key: "SSIDReference"
            value: "Device.WiFi.SSID.1"
          }
        }
        curr_insts {
          instantiated_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.1.AssociatedDevice.1."
          unique_keys {
            key: "MACAddress"
            value: "11:22:33:44:55:66"
          }
        }
        curr_insts {
          instantiated_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.1.AC.1."
          unique_keys {
            key: "AccessCategory"
            value: "BE"
          }
        }

        curr_insts {
          instantiated_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.2."
          unique_keys {
            key: "Alias"
            value: "cpe-alias-2"
          }
          unique_keys {
            key: "SSIDReference"
            value: "Device.WiFi.SSID.2"
          }
        }
        curr_insts {
          instantiated_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.2.AssociatedDevice.1."
          unique_keys {
            key: "MACAddress"
            value: "11:22:33:44:55:66"
          }
        }
        curr_insts {
          instantiated_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.2.AC.1."
          unique_keys {
            key: "AccessCategory"
            value: "BE"
          }
        }
      }
    }

Or more, if more Object Instances exist.

7.5.2.2 GetInstances Request Fields

repeated string obj_paths

This field contains a repeated set of Path Names or Search Paths to Multi-Instance Objects in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model.

bool first_level_only

This field, if true, indicates that the Agent returns only those instances in the Object(s) matched by the Path Name or Search Path in obj_path, and not return any child Objects.

7.5.2.3 GetInstances Response Fields

repeated RequestedPathResult req_path_results

This field contains a RequestedPathResult message for each Path Name or Search

string requested_path

This field contains one of the Path Names or Search Paths given in obj_path of the associated GetInstances Request.

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (Error Codes) indicating the type of error that caused the GetInstances to fail on this Path Name. A value of 0 indicates the Path Name could be read successfully.

R-GIN.0 - If the Controller making the Request does not have Read permission on an Object or Parameter used for matching through the requested_path field, any otherwise matched Object MUST be treated as if it is not present in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model

string err_msg

This field contains additional information about the reason behind the error.

repeated CurrInstance curr_insts

This field contains a message of type CurrInstance for each Instance of all of the Objects matched by requested_path that exists in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model.

7.5.2.3.0.1 CurrInstance Fields

string instantiated_obj_path

This field contains the Object Instance Path of the Object.

map<string, string> unique_keys

This field contains a map of key/value pairs for all of this Object’s Unique Key Parameters that are supported by the Agent.

R-GIN.1 - If the Controller does not have Read permission on any of the Parameters specified in unique_keys, these Parameters MUST NOT be returned in this field.

7.5.2.4 GetInstances Error Codes

Appropriate error codes for the GetInstances Message include 7000-7006, 7008, 7016, 7018, 7026 and 7800-7999.

7.5.3 The GetSupportedDM Message

GetSupportedDM (referred to informally as GSDM) is used to retrieve the Objects, Parameters, Events, and Commands in the Agent’s Supported Data Model. This allows a Controller to learn what an Agent understands, rather than its current state.

The GetSupportedDM Message is different from other USP Messages in that it only returns information about the Agent’s Supported Data Model. This means that Path Names to Multi-Instance Objects only address the Object itself, rather than Instances of the Object, and those Path Names that contain Multi-Instance Objects in the Path Name use the {i} identifier to indicate their place in the Path Name as specified in TR-106 [2].

The obj_paths field takes a list of Object Paths, either from the Supported Data Model or the Instantiated Data Model.

For example, a Path Name to the AssociatedDevice Object (a child of the .WiFi.AccessPoint Object) could be addressed in the Supported Data Model as Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.{i}.AssociatedDevice.{i}. but in addition to this notation the omission of the final {i}. is also allowed, such as Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.{i}.AssociatedDevice.. Both of these syntaxes are supported and equivalent.

Alternatively an Instantiated Data Model Object Path can be used as long as the Object exists, such as Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.1.AssociatedDevice.. The Agent will use the Supported Data Model pertaining to this particular Object when processing the Message.

If the Agent encounters a diverging Supported Data Model, e.g. due to the use of different Mounted Objects underneath a Mountpoint, the Agent will skip the traversal of the children Objects, populate the Response’s divergent_paths element with all divergent Object Instance Paths, and continue processing with the next unambiguous Object. The Supported Data Model of such divergent Objects can only be obtained by specifically using Object Instance Paths in the obj_paths field of a GetSupportedDM request.

The Agent’s Response returns all Path Names in the supported_obj_path field according to its Supported Data Model.

To clarify the difference between an Instantiated Data Model Object Path and a Supported Data Model Object Path:

• If a {i} is encountered in the Object Path, it cannot be followed by an Instance Identifier.
• If the Object Path ends with an Instance Identifier, it is treated as an Instantiated Data Model Object Path.
• If the Object Path contains a {i}, it is a Supported Data Model Object Path.

7.5.3.1 GetSupportedDM Examples

For example, the Controller wishes to learn the Wi-Fi capabilities the Agent represents. It could issue a GetSupportedDM Request as:

    get_supported_dm {
      obj_paths : "Device.WiFi."
      first_level_only : false
      return_commands : false
      return_events : false
      return_params : false
    }

The Agent’s Response would be:

    get_supported_dm_resp {
      req_obj_results {
        req_obj_path: "Device.WiFi."
        data_model_inst_uri: "urn:broadband-forum-org:tr-181-2-12-0"
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi."
          access: OBJ_READ_ONLY
          is_multi_instance: false
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.Radio.{i}."
          access: OBJ_READ_ONLY
          is_multi_instance: true
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.Radio.{i}.Stats"
          access: OBJ_READ_ONLY
          is_multi_instance: false
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID.{i}."
          access: OBJ_ADD_DELETE
          is_multi_instance: true
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID.{i}.Stats"
          access: OBJ_READ_ONLY
          is_multi_instance: false
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.{i}."
          access: OBJ_ADD_DELETE
          is_multi_instance: true
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.{i}.Security."
          access: OBJ_READ_ONLY
          is_multi_instance: false
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.{i}.WPS."
          access: OBJ_READ_ONLY
          is_multi_instance: false
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.{i}.AssociatedDevice.{i}."
          access: OBJ_READ_ONLY
          is_multi_instance: true
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.{i}.AssociatedDevice.{i}.Stats."
          access: OBJ_READ_ONLY
          is_multi_instance: false
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.{i}.AC.{i}."
          access: OBJ_READ_ONLY
          is_multi_instance: true
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.{i}.AC.{i}.Stats."
          access: OBJ_READ_ONLY
          is_multi_instance: false
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.{i}.Accounting."
          access: OBJ_READ_ONLY
          is_multi_instance: false
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.EndPoint.{i}."
          access: OBJ_ADD_DELETE
          is_multi_instance: true
        }

        ## And continued, for Device.WiFi.EndPoint.{i}. Sub-Objects such as Device.WiFi.EndPoint.{i}.Stats., Device.WiFi.EndPoint.{i}/// .Security., etc.

      }
    }

In another example request:

    get_supported_dm {
      obj_paths : "Device.WiFi."
      first_level_only : true
      return_commands : true
      return_events : true
      return_params : true
    }

The Agent’s response would be:

    get_supported_dm_resp {
      req_obj_results {
        req_obj_path: "Device.WiFi."
        data_model_inst_uri: "urn:broadband-forum-org:tr-181-2-12-0"
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi."
          access: OBJ_READ_ONLY
          is_multi_instance: false
          supported_params {
            param_name: "RadioNumberOfEntries"
            access: PARAM_READ_ONLY
            value_type : PARAM_UNSIGNED_INT
            value_change : VALUE_CHANGE_ALLOWED
          }
          supported_params {
            param_name: "SSIDNumberOfEntries"
            access: PARAM_READ_ONLY
            value_type : PARAM_UNSIGNED_INT
            value_change : VALUE_CHANGE_ALLOWED
          }

          ## Continued for all Device.WiFi. Parameters

          supported_commands {
            command_name: "NeighboringWiFiDiagnostic()"
            output_arg_names: "Status"
            output_arg_names: "Result.{i}.Radio"
            output_arg_names: "Result.{i}.SSID"
            output_arg_names: "Result.{i}.BSSID"
            output_arg_names: "Result.{i}.Mode"
            output_arg_names: "Result.{i}.Channel"

            ## Continued for other NeighboringWiFiDiagnostic() output arguments

            command_type : CMD_ASYNC
          }
        }

        ## followed by its immediate child objects with no details

        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.Radio.{i}."
          access: OBJ_READ_ONLY
          is_multi_instance: true
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.SSID.{i}."
          access: OBJ_ADD_DELETE
          is_multi_instance: true
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.{i}."
          access: OBJ_ADD_DELETE
          is_multi_instance: true
        }
        supported_objs {
          supported_obj_path: "Device.WiFi.EndPoint.{i}."
          access: OBJ_ADD_DELETE
          is_multi_instance: true
        }
      }
    }

7.5.3.2 GetSupportedDM Request Fields

repeated obj_paths

This field contains a repeated set of Path Names to Objects in the Agent’s Supported or Instantiated Data Model. For Path Names from the Supported Data Model the omission of the final {i}. is allowed.

bool first_level_only

This field, if true, indicates that the Agent returns only those objects matched by the Path Name or Search Path in obj_path and its immediate (i.e., next level) child objects. The list of child objects does not include commands, events, or Parameters of the child objects regardless of the values of the following elements:

bool return_commands

This field, if true, indicates that, in the supported_objs, the Agent should include a supported_commands field containing Commands supported by the reported Object(s).

bool return_events

This field, if true, indicates that, in the supported_objs, the Agent should include a supported_events field containing Events supported by the reported Object(s).

bool return_params

This field, if true, indicates that, in the supported_objs, the Agent should include a supported_params field containing Parameters supported by the reported Object(s).

7.5.3.3 GetSupportedDMResp Fields

repeated RequestedObjectResult req_obj_results

This field contains a repeated set of messages of type RequestedObjectResult.

7.5.3.3.1 RequestedObjectResult Fields

string req_obj_path

This field contains one of the Path Names given in obj_path of the associated GetSupportedDM Request.

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (Error Codes) indicating the type of error that caused the GetSupportedDM to fail on this Path Name. A value of 0 indicates the Path Name could be read successfully.

R-GSP.0 - If the Controller making the Request does not have Read permission on an Object or Parameter matched through the requested_path field, the Object or Parameter MUST be treated as if it is not present in the Agent’s Supported Data Model.

string err_msg

This field contains additional information about the reason behind the error.

string data_model_inst_uri

This field contains a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) to the Data Model associated with the Object specified in obj_path.

repeated SupportedObjectResult supported_objs

The field contains a message of type SupportedObjectResult for each reported Object.

7.5.3.3.1.1 SupportedObjectResult Fields

In the case of a diverging Supported Data Model, only the supported_obj_path, access, is_multi_instance, and divergent_paths fields will be populated for the divergent Object.

string supported_obj_path

This field contains the Full Object Path Name of the reported Object in Supported Data Model notation.

ObjAccessType access

The field contains an enumeration of type ObjAccessType specifying the access permissions that are specified for this Object in the Agent’s Supported Data Model. This usually only applies to Multi-Instance Objects. This may be further restricted to the Controller based on rules defined in the Agent’s Access Control List. It is an enumeration of:

    OBJ_READ_ONLY (0)
    OBJ_ADD_DELETE (1)
    OBJ_ADD_ONLY (2)
    OBJ_DELETE_ONLY (3)

bool is_multi_instance

This field, if true, indicates that the reported Object is a Multi-Instance Object.

repeated SupportedParamResult supported_params

The field contains a message of type SupportedParamResult for each Parameter supported by the reported Object. If there are no Parameters in the Object, this should be an empty list.

repeated SupportedCommandResult supported_commands

The field contains a message of type SupportedCommandResult for each Command supported by the reported Object. If there are no Parameters in the Object, this should be an empty list.

repeated SupportedEventResult supported_events

The field contains a message of type SupportedEventResult for each Event supported by the reported Object. If there are no Parameters in the Object, this should be an empty list.

repeated string divergent_paths

The field contains an Object Instance Path for each divergent Path Name.

Note: The divergent_paths field was added in USP 1.2. An Agent that supports versions before USP 1.2 would not know to send the divergent_paths field and thus an empty list will be seen by the Controller.

7.5.3.3.1.2 SupportedParamResult Fields

string param_name

This field contains the Relative Path of the Parameter.

ParamAccessType access

The field contains an enumeration of type ParamAccessType specifying the access permissions that are specified for this Parameter in the Agent’s Supported Data Model. This may be further restricted to the Controller based on rules defined in the Agent’s Access Control List. It is an enumeration of:

    PARAM_READ_ONLY (0)
    PARAM_READ_WRITE (1)
    PARAM_WRITE_ONLY (2)

ParamValueType value_type

This field contains an enumeration of type ParamValueType specifying the primitive (or base) data type of this Parameter in the Agent’s Supported Data Model. It is an enumeration of:

    PARAM_UNKNOWN (0)
    PARAM_BASE_64 (1)
    PARAM_BOOLEAN (2)
    PARAM_DATE_TIME (3)
    PARAM_DECIMAL (4)
    PARAM_HEX_BINARY (5)
    PARAM_INT (6)
    PARAM_LONG (7)
    PARAM_STRING (8)
    PARAM_UNSIGNED_INT (9)
    PARAM_UNSIGNED_LONG (10)

Note: The value_type field was added in USP 1.2, and the PARAM_UNKNOWN enumerated value is present for backwards compatibility purposes. An Agent that supports versions before USP 1.2 would not know to send the value_type and thus a 0 value (PARAM_UNKNOWN) will be seen by the Controller.

Note: This refers to the data type of the Parameter as implemented on the device, even though the value itself is transmitted as a Protocol Buffers string.

ValueChangeType value_change

This field contains an enumeration of type ValueChangeType specifying whether or not the Agent will honor or ignore a ValueChange Subscription for this Parameter. The value of this field does not impact the ability for a Controller to create a ValueChange Subscription that references the associated Parameter, it only impacts how the Agent handles the Subscription. It is an enumeration of:

    VALUE_CHANGE_UNKNOWN (0)
    VALUE_CHANGE_ALLOWED (1)
    VALUE_CHANGE_WILL_IGNORE (2)

Note: The value_change field was added in USP 1.2, and the VALUE_CHANGE_UNKNOWN enumerated value is present for backwards compatibility purposes. An Agent that supports versions before USP 1.2 would not know to send the value_change and thus a 0 value (VALUE_CHANGE_UNKNOWN) will be seen by the Controller.

7.5.3.3.1.3 SupportedCommandResult Fields

string command_name

This field contains the Relative Path of the Command.

repeated string input_arg_names

This field contains a repeated set of Relative Paths for the input arguments of the Command, which can include Objects and Object Instances where the names are represented in Supported Data Model notation.

Note: This field only contains the Path Name of the supported Input arguments without details about the supported number of instances, mandatory arguments or expected data types. Those details are implementation specific and not detailed as part of the SupportedCommandResult.

repeated string output_arg_names

This field contains a repeated set of Relative Paths for the output arguments of the Command, which can include Objects and Object Instances where the names are represented in Supported Data Model notation.

CmdType command_type

This field contains an enumeration of type CmdType specifying the type of execution for the Command. It is an enumeration of:

    CMD_UNKNOWN (0)
    CMD_SYNC (1)
    CMD_ASYNC (2)

Note: The command_type field was added in USP 1.2, and the CMD_UNKNOWN enumerated value is present for backwards compatibility purposes. An Agent that supports versions before USP 1.2 would not know to send the command_type and thus a 0 value (CMD_UNKNOWN) will be seen by the Controller.

7.5.3.3.1.4 SupportedEventResult

string event_name

This field contains the Relative Path of the Event.

repeated string arg_names

This field contains a repeated set of Relative Paths for the arguments of the Event.

7.5.3.4 GetSupportedDM Error Codes

Appropriate error codes for the GetSupportedDM Message include 7000-7006, 7008, 7016, 7026, and 7800-7999.

Note: when using error 7026 (Invalid path), it is important to note that in the context of GetSupportedDM this applies to the Agent’s Supported Data Model.

7.5.4 GetSupportedProtocol

The GetSupportedProtocol Message is used as a simple way for the Controller and Agent to learn which versions of USP each supports to aid in interoperability and backwards compatibility.

7.5.4.1 GetSupportedProtocol Request Fields

string controller_supported_protocol_versions

A comma separated list of USP Protocol Versions (major.minor) supported by this Controller.

7.5.4.2 GetSupportedProtocolResponse Fields

string agent_supported_protocol_versions

A comma separated list of USP Protocol Versions (major.minor) supported by this Agent.

7.5.5 The Register Message

The Register message is an Agent to Controller message used to register new Service Elements.

See Software Modularization and USP-Enabled Applications Theory of Operation appendix for more information on when to use the Register message.

7.5.5.1 Register Examples

A USP Agent can register several Service Elements with one or multiple Register Request messages.

header {
  msg_id: "94521"
  msg_type: REGISTER
}
body {
  request {
    register {
      allow_partial: true
      reg_paths {
        path: "Device.Time."
      }
      reg_paths {
        path: "Device.WiFi.DataElements."
      }
    }
  }
}

In case the registration was successful, the USP Controller will respond with a Register Response message.

header {
  msg_id: "94521"
  msg_type: REGISTER_RESP
}
body {
  response {
    register_resp {
      registered_path_results {
        requested_path: "Device.Time."
        oper_status {
          oper_success {
            registered_path: "Device.Time."
          }
        }
      }

      registered_path_results {
        requested_path: "Device.WiFi.DataElements."
        oper_status {
          oper_success {
            registered_path: "Device.WiFi.DataElements."
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

In case the registration failed partially, because the “Device.WiFi.DataElements.” object was already registered, the USP Controller will respond with the following Register Response message.

header {
  msg_id: "94521"
  msg_type: REGISTER_RESP
}
body {
  response {
    register_resp {
      registered_path_results {
        requested_path: "Device.Time."
        oper_status {
          oper_success {
            registered_path: "Device.Time."
          }
        }
      }

      registered_path_results {
        requested_path: "Device.WiFi.DataElements."
        oper_status {
          oper_failure {
            err_code: 7029
            err_msg: "Device.WiFi.DataElements. object path has already been registered"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

If allow_partial was set to false in the Register Request and the registration failed, the USP Controller would instead respond with a USP Error message.

header {
  msg_id: "94521"
  msg_type: ERROR
}
body {
  error {
    err_code: 7029
    err_msg: "Device.WiFi.DataElements. object path has already been registered"
  }
}

7.5.5.2 Register Request Fields

bool allow_partial

The Register message contains a boolean allow_partial to indicate whether the registration must succeed completely or is allowed to fail partially. If allow_partial is false, nothing will be registered if one of the provided paths fails to be registered (e.g. due to an already existing registration) and the USP Controller will respond with a USP Error message. If allow_partial is true, the USP Controller will try to register every path individually and will always respond with a RegisterResp message, even if none of the requested paths can be registered.

R-REG.0 - If the allow_partial field is set to true and no other exceptions are encountered, the Controller treats each of the reg_paths independently. The Controller MUST complete the registration of each reg_path regardless of the inability to register one of the others.

R-REG.1 - If the allow_partial field is set to false, and no other exceptions are encountered, the Controller treats each of the reg_paths holistically. A failure to handle one of the reg_paths will cause the Register Message to fail and return an Error Message.

repeated RegistrationPath reg_paths

This field contains a repeated set of RegistrationPaths for each path the USP Agent wants to register.

7.5.5.2.1 RegistrationPath Fields

string path

This field contains the Object Path the USP Agent wants to register.

R-REG.2 - The path field MUST contain an Object Path without any instance numbers. This path MUST NOT not use the Supported Data Model notation (with {i}), meaning that it is not allowed to register a sub-object to a multi-instance object.

7.5.5.3 Register Response Fields

repeated RegisteredPathResult registered_path_results

This field contains a repeated set of RegisteredPathResults for each path the USP Agent tried to register.

7.5.5.4 RegisteredPathResult Fields

string requested_path

This field contains the value of the entry of the path (in the Register Request) associated with this RegisteredPathResult.

OperationStatus oper_status

This field contains a message of type OperationStatus.

7.5.5.4.1 OperationStatus Fields

oneof oper_status

This field contains a message of one of the following types.

OperationFailure oper_failure

Used when the path specified in requested_path failed to be registered.

OperationSuccess oper_success

Used when the path specified in requested_path was successfully registered.

7.5.5.4.2 OperationFailure Fields

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (Error Codes) indicating the type of error that caused the registration to fail.

string err_msg

This field contains additional information about the reason behind the error.

7.5.5.4.3 OperationSuccess Fields

string registered_path

This field returns the path that was registered.

7.5.5.5 Register Message Supported Error Codes

Appropriate error codes for the Register Message include 7000-7008, 7016, 7028-7029 and 7800-7999.

7.5.6 The Deregister Message

The Deregister message is an Agent to Controller message used to deregister a previously registered data model at the USP Controller. When a USP Agent terminates, all Services elements will be deregistered automatically by the USP Controller.

A USP Agent can choose to deregister its Service Elements during normal operation or when it terminates.

Note: A Deregister Request does not contain a boolean allow_partial, but the Controller will handle each path in the Deregister Request individually. In other words, allow_partial is implicitly set to true during the deregistration. The USP Controller will provide information about the success or failure to deregister each requested path in the Deregister Response message.

7.5.6.1 Deregister Examples

A USP Agent can deregister several Service Elements with a Deregister Request message.

header {
  msg_id: "94522"
  msg_type: DEREGISTER
}
body {
  request {
    deregister {
      paths: "Device.Time."
      paths: "Device.WiFi.DataElements."
    }
  }
}

In case the deregistration was successful, the USP Controller will respond with a Deregister Response message.

header {
  msg_id: "94522"
  msg_type: DEREGISTER_RESP
}
body {
  response {
    deregister_resp {
      deregistered_path_results {
        requested_path: "Device.Time."
        oper_status {
          oper_success {
            deregistered_path: "Device.Time."
          }
        }
      }

      deregistered_path_results {
        requested_path: "Device.WiFi.DataElements."
        oper_status {
          oper_success {
            deregistered_path: "Device.WiFi.DataElements."
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

7.5.6.2 Deregister Request Fields

repeated string paths

This field contains a set of paths that the USP Agent wants to deregister.

R-DEREG.1 - A USP Agent MUST only deregister Service Elements that it registered with a previous Register message.

R-DEREG.2 - An empty path field MUST be interpreted to deregister all Service Elements belonging to the USP Agent.

R-DEREG.3 - A USP Agent MAY deregister one or more Service Elements with one Deregister Request message containing multiple path fields.

Note: The path field contains an Object Path without any instance numbers. This path doesn’t contain any sub-objects to a multi-instance object.

7.5.6.3 Deregister Response Fields

repeated DeregisteredPathResult deregistered_path_results

This field contains a repeated set of DeregisteredPathResults for each path the USP Agent tried to deregister.

R-DEREG.4 - A USP Controller MUST always respond with a Deregister Response message to a Deregister Request. USP Error messages are not used.

7.5.6.4 DeregisteredPathResult Fields

string requested_path

This field contains the value of the entry of the path (in the Deregister Request) associated with this DeregisteredPathResult.

OperationStatus oper_status

This field contains a message of type OperationStatus.

7.5.6.4.1 OperationStatus Fields

oneof oper_status

This field contains a message of one of the following types.

OperationFailure oper_failure

Used when the path specified in requested_path failed to be deregistered.

OperationSuccess oper_success

Used when the path specified in requested_path was successfully deregistered.

7.5.6.4.2 OperationFailure Fields

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (Error Codes) indicating the type of error that caused the deregistration to fail.

string err_msg

This field contains additional information about the reason behind the error.

7.5.6.4.3 OperationSuccess Fields

string deregistered_path

This field returns the path that was deregistered.

7.5.6.5 Deregister Message Supported Error Codes

Appropriate error codes for the Deregister Message include 7000-7008, 7016, 7030 and 7800-7999.

7.6 Notifications and Subscription Mechanism

A Controller can use the Subscription mechanism to subscribe to certain events that occur on the Agent, such as a Parameter change, Object removal, wake-up, etc. When such event conditions are met, the Agent may either send a Notify Message to the Controller, update its own configuration, or perform both actions depending on the Subscription’s configuration.

7.6.1 Using Subscription Objects

Subscriptions are maintained in instances of the Multi-Instance Subscription Object in the USP data model. The normative requirements for these Objects are described in the data model Parameter descriptions for Device.LocalAgent.Subscription.{i}. in the Device:2 Data Model [3].

R-NOT.0 - The Agent and Controller MUST follow the normative requirements defined in the Device.LocalAgent.Subscription.{i}. Object specified in the Device:2 Data Model [3].

R-NOT.0a - When considering the time needed to make a state change and trigger a Notification, an implementation SHOULD make changes to its state and initiate a Notification with a window no longer than 10 seconds.

Note: Those familiar with Broadband Forum TR-069 [1] will recall that a notification for a value change caused by an Auto-Configuration Server (ACS - the CWMP equivalent of a Controller) are not sent to the ACS. Since there is only a single ACS notifying the ACS of value changes it requested is unnecessary. This is not the case in USP: an Agent should follow the behavior specified by a subscription, regardless of the originator of that subscription.

7.6.1.1 ReferenceList Parameter

All subscriptions apply to one or more Objects or Parameters in the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model. These are specified as Path Names or Search Paths in the ReferenceList Parameter. The ReferenceList Parameter may have different meaning depending on the nature of the notification subscribed to.

For example, a Controller wants to be notified when a new Wi-Fi station joins the Wi-Fi network. It uses the Add Message to create an instance of a Subscription Object with Device.WiFi.AccessPoint.1.AssociatedDevice. specified in the ReferenceList Parameter and ObjectCreation as the NotificationType.

In another example, a Controller wants to be notified whenever an outside source changes the SSID of a Wi-Fi network. It uses the Add Message to create an instance of a Subscription Object with Device.WiFi.SSID.1.SSID specified in the ReferenceList and ValueChange as the NotificationType.

7.6.1.2 TriggerAction Parameter

Subscriptions can be used to define the actions to be performed by the Agent when an event occurs. This is defined in the TriggerAction Parameter. The default is for the Agent to send a Notify Message, but it could also perform an update of its own configuration, or both sending the Notify and performing the configuration.

For example, an Agent may be configure with a Subscription for the Device.LocalAgent.Threshold.{i}.Triggered! event such that when it occurs the Agent both sends a Notify message and configures the Device.BulkData.Profile.{i}.Enable to start sending BukData reports (if defined to do so in the TriggerConfigSettings Parameter of the Subscription).

7.6.2 Responses to Notifications and Notification Retry

The Notify request contains a flag, send_resp, that specifies whether or not the Controller should send a response Message after receiving a Notify request. This is used in tandem with the NotifRetry Parameter in the subscription Object - if NotifRetry is true, then the Agent sends its Notify requests with send_resp : true, and the Agent considers the notification delivered when it receives a response from the Controller. If NotifRetry is false, the Agent does not need to use the send_resp flag and should ignore the delivery state of the notification.

If NotifRetry is true, and the Agent does not receive a response from the Controller, it begins retrying using the retry algorithm below. The subscription Object also uses a NotifExpiration Parameter to specify when this retry should end if no success is ever achieved.

R-NOT.1 - When retrying notifications, the Agent MUST use the following retry algorithm to manage the retransmission of the Notify request.

The retry interval range is controlled by two Parameters, the minimum wait interval and the interval multiplier, each of which corresponds to a data model Parameter, and which are described in the table below. The factory default values of these Parameters MUST be the default values listed in the Default column. They MAY be changed by a Controller with the appropriate permissions at any time.

R-NOT.2 - Beginning with the tenth retry attempt, the Agent MUST choose from the fixed maximum range. The Agent will continue to retry a failed notification until it is successfully delivered or until the NotifExpiration time is reached.

R-NOT.3 - Once a notification is successfully delivered, the Agent MUST reset the retry count to zero for the next notification Message.

R-NOT.4 - If a reboot of the Agent occurs, the Agent MUST reset the retry count to zero for the next notification Message.

7.6.3 Notification Types

There are several types events that can cause a Notify request. These include those that deal with changes to the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model (ValueChange, ObjectCreation, ObjectDeletion), the completion of an asynchronous Object-defined operation (OperationComplete), a policy-defined OnBoardRequest, and a generic Event for use with Object-defined events.

7.6.3.1 ValueChange

The ValueChange notification is subscribed to by a Controller when it wants to know that the value of a single or set of Parameters has changed from the state it was in at the time of the subscription or to a state as described in an expression, and then each time it transitions from then on for the life of the subscription. It is triggered when the defined change occurs, even if it is caused by the originating Controller.

7.6.3.2 ObjectCreation and ObjectDeletion

These notifications are used for when an instance of the subscribed to Multi-Instance Objects is added or removed from the Agent’s Instantiated Data Model. Like ValueChange, this notification is triggered even if the subscribing Controller is the originator of the creation or deletion or the instance was created or deleted implicitly, e.g. due to a configuration or status change or indirectly via an unrelated USP Message.

The ObjectCreation notification also includes the Object’s Unique Key Parameters and their values.

7.6.3.3 OperationComplete

The OperationComplete notification is used to indicate that an asynchronous Object-defined operation finished (either successfully or unsuccessfully). These operations may also trigger other Events defined in the data model (see below).

7.6.3.4 OnBoardRequest

An OnBoardRequest notification is used by the Agent when it is triggered by an external source to initiate the request in order to communicate with a Controller that can provide on-boarding procedures and communicate with that Controller (likely for the first time).

R-NOT.5 - An Agent MUST send an OnBoardRequest notify request in the following circumstances:

1. When the SendOnBoardRequest() command is executed. This sends the notification request to the Controller that is the subject of that operation. The SendOnBoardRequest() operation is defined in the Device:2 Data Model [3]. This requirement applies only to those Controller table instances that have their Enabled Parameter set to true.

2. When instructed to do so by internal application policy (for example, when using DHCP discovery defined above).

Note: as defined in the Subscription table, OnBoardRequest is not included as one of the enumerated types of a Subscription, i.e., it is not intended to be the subject of a Subscription.

R-NOT.6 If a response is required, the OnBoardRequest MUST follow the Retry logic defined above.

7.6.3.5 Event

The Event notification is used to indicate that an Object-defined event was triggered on the Agent. These events are defined in the data model and include what Parameters, if any, are returned as part of the notification.

7.6.4 The Notify Message

7.6.4.1 Notify Examples

In this example, a Controller has subscribed to be notified of changes in value to the Device.DeviceInfo.FriendlyName Parameter. When it is changed, the Agent sends a Notify Request to inform the Controller of the change.

header {
  msg_id: "33936"
  msg_type: NOTIFY
}
body {
  request {
    notify {
      subscription_id: "vc-1"
      send_resp: true
      value_change {
          param_path: "Device.DeviceInfo.FriendlyName"
          param_value: "MyDevicesFriendlyName"
      }
    }
  }
}

header {
  msg_id: "33936"
  msg_type: NOTIFY_RESP
}
body {
  response {
    notify_resp {
      subscription_id: "vc-1"
    }
  }
}

In another example, the event “Boot!”, defined in the Device. Object, is triggered. The Agent sends a Notify Request to the Controller(s) subscribed to that event.

header {
  msg_id: "26732"
  msg_type: NOTIFY
}
body {
  request {
    notify {
      subscription_id: "boot-1"
      send_resp: true
      event {
        obj_path: "Device."
        event_name: "Boot!"
        params {
          key: "Cause"
          value: "LocalReboot"
        }
        params {
          key: "CommandKey"
          value: "controller-command-key"
        }
        params {
          key: "ParameterMap"
          value: '{"Device.LocalAgent.Controller.1.Enable":"True","Device.LocalAgent.Controller.2.Enable":"False"}'
        }
        params {
          key: "FirmwareUpdated"
          value: "false"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

header {
  msg_id: "26732"
  msg_type: NOTIFY_RESP
}
body {
  response {
    notify_resp {
      subscription_id: "boot-1"
    }
  }
}

7.6.4.2 Notify Request Fields

string subscription_id

This field contains the locally unique opaque identifier that was set by the Controller when it created the Subscription on the Agent.

R-NOT.7 - The subscription_id field MUST contain the Subscription ID of the Subscription Object that triggered this notification. If no subscription_id is available (for example, for OnBoardRequest notifications), this field MUST be set to an empty string.

bool send_resp

This field lets the Agent indicate to the Controller whether or not it expects a response in association with the Notify request.

R-NOT.8 - When send_resp is set to false, the Controller SHOULD NOT send a response or error to the Agent. If a response is still sent, the responding Controller MUST expect that any such response will be ignored.

oneof notification

Contains one of the following Notification messages:

Event   event
ValueChange value_change
ObjectCreation obj_creation
ObjectDeletion obj_deletion
OperationComplete oper_complete
OnBoardRequest on_board_req

7.6.4.2.1 Event Fields

string obj_path

This field contains the Object or Object Instance Path of the Object that caused this event (for example, Device.LocalAgent.).

string event_name

This field contains the name of the Object defined event that caused this notification (for example, Boot!).

map<string, string> parameters

This field contains a set of key/value pairs of Parameters associated with this event. Refer to Parameter and Argument Value Encoding for details of how Parameter values are encoded as Protocol Buffers v3 strings.

7.6.4.2.2 ValueChange Fields

string param_path

This field contains the Path Name of the changed Parameter.

string param_value

This field contains the value of the Parameter specified in param_path. Refer to Parameter and Argument Value Encoding for details of how Parameter values are encoded as Protocol Buffers v3 strings.

7.6.4.2.3 ObjectCreation Fields

string obj_path

This field contains the Path Name of the created Object Instance.

map<string, string> unique_keys

This field contains a map of key/value pairs for all of this Object’s Unique Key Parameters that are supported by the Agent.

7.6.4.2.4 ObjectDeletion Fields

string obj_path

This field contains the Path Name of the deleted Object Instance.

7.6.4.2.5 OperationComplete Fields

string command_name

This field contains the Relative Path of the Object defined command that caused this notification (i.e., Download()).

string obj_path

This field contains the Object or Object Instance Path to the Object that contains this operation.

string command_key

This field contains the command key set during an Object defined Operation that caused this notification.

oneof operation_resp

Contains one of the following messages:

OutputArgs req_output_args
CommandFailure cmd_failure

7.6.4.2.5.1 OutputArgs Fields

map<string, string> output_args

This field contains a map of key/value pairs indicating the output arguments (relative to the command specified in the command_name field) returned by the method invoked in the Operate Message. Refer to Parameter and Argument Value Encoding for details of how argument values are encoded as Protocol Buffers v3 strings.

7.6.4.2.5.2 CommandFailure Fields

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (see Error Codes) indicating the type of the error that caused the operation to fail. Appropriate error codes for CommandFailure include 7002-7008, 7016, 7022, 7023, and 7800-7999. Error 7023 is reserved for asynchronous operations that were canceled by a Controller invoking the Cancel() command on the appropriate Request Object (see Asynchronous Operations).

string err_msg

This field contains additional (human readable) information about the reason behind the error.

7.6.4.2.6 OnBoardRequest Fields

string oui

This field contains the Organizationally Unique Identifier associated with the Agent.

string product_class

This field contains a string used to provide additional context about the Agent.

string serial_number

This field contains a string used to provide additional context about the Agent.

string agent_supported_protocol_versions

A comma separated list of USP Protocol Versions (major.minor) supported by this Agent.

7.6.4.3 Notify Response Fields

string subscription_id

This field contains the Subscription ID that was received with the Notify Request.

R-NOT.9 -The Agent SHOULD ignore the subscription_id field.

Note: The requirement in the previous versions of the specification requiring the Agent to check this subscription_id field has been deprecated. However for backward compatibility the Controller is still required to send the matching subscription_id.

R-NOT.10 - The Controller MUST populate the subscription_id field with the same Subscription ID as was presented in the Notify Request.

7.6.4.4 Notify Error Codes

Appropriate error codes for the Notify Message include 7000-7006, and 7800-7999.

7.7 Defined Operations Mechanism

Additional methods (operations) are and can be defined in the USP data model. Operations are generally defined on an Object, using the “command” attribute, as defined in [2]. The mechanism is controlled using the Operate Message in conjunction with the Multi-Instance Request Object.

7.7.1 Synchronous Operations

A synchronous operation is intended to complete immediately following its processing. When complete, the output arguments are sent in the Operate response. If the send_resp flag is false, the Controller doesn’t need the returned information (if any), and the Agent does not send an Operate Response.

7.7.2 Asynchronous Operations

An asynchronous operation expects to take some processing on the system the Agent represents and will return results at a later time. When complete, the output arguments are sent in a Notify (OperationComplete) request to any Controllers that have an active subscription to the operation and Object(s) to which it applies.

When a Controller using the Operate request specifies an operation that is defined as asynchronous, the Agent creates an instance of the Request Object in its data model, and includes a reference to the created Object in the Operate response. If the send_resp flag is false, the Controller doesn’t need the Request details, and intends to ignore it.

The lifetime of a Request Object expires when the operation is complete (either by success or failure). An expired Request Object is removed from the Instantiated Data Model.

R-OPR.0 - When an Agent receives an Operate Request that addresses an asynchronous operation, it MUST create a Request Object in the Request table of its Instantiated Data Model (see the Device:2 Data Model [3]). When the Operation is complete (either success or failure), it MUST remove this Object from the Request table.

If any Controller wants a notification that an operation has completed, it creates a Subscription Object with the NotificationType set to OperationComplete and with the ReferenceList Parameter including a Path Name to the specified command. The Agent processes this Subscription when the operation completes and sends a Notify Message, including the command_key value that the Controller assigned when making the Operate request.

A Controller can cancel a request that is still present in the Agent’s Device.LocalAgent.Request. table by invoking the Device.LocalAgent.Request.{i}.Cancel() command through another Operate Message.

7.7.2.1 Persistance of Asynchronous Operations

Synchronous Operations do not persist across a reboot or restart of the Agent or its underlying system. It is expected that Asynchronous Operations do not persist, and a command that is in process when the Agent is rebooted can be expected to be removed from the Request table, and is considered to have failed. If a command is allowed or expected to be retained across a reboot, it will be noted in the command description.

7.7.3 Operate Requests on Multiple Objects

Since the Operate request can take a Path Name expression as a value for the command field, it is possible to invoke the same operation on multiple valid Objects as part of a single Operate request. Responses to requests to Operate on more than one Object are handled using the OperationResult field type, which is returned as a repeated set in the Operate Response. The success or failure of the operation on each Object is handled separately and returned in a different OperationResult entry. For this reason, operation failures are never conveyed in an Error Message - in reply to an Operate request, Error is only used when the Message itself fails for one or more reasons, rather than the operation invoked.

Note: This specification does not make any requirement on the order in which commands on multiple objects selected with a Path Name expression are executed.

R-OPR.1 - When processing Operate Requests on multiple Objects, an Agent MUST NOT send an Error Message due to a failed operation. It MUST instead include the failure in the cmd_failure field of the Operate response.

R-OPR.2 - For asynchronous operations the Agent MUST create a separate Request Object for each Object and associated operation matched in the command field.

7.7.4 Event Notifications for Operations

When an operation triggers an Event notification, the Agent sends the Event notification for all subscribed recipients as described in Notifications and Subscription Mechanism.

7.7.5 Concurrent Operations

If an asynchronous operation is triggered multiple times by one or more Controllers, the Agent has the following options:

1. Deny the new operation (with, for example, 7005 Resources Exceeded )
2. The operations are performed in parallel and independently.
3. The operations are queued and completed in order.

R-OPR.3 - When handling concurrently invoked operations, an Agent MUST NOT cancel an operation already in progress unless explicitly told to do so by a Controller with permission to do so (i.e., via the Device.LocalAgent.Request.{i}.Cancel() operation).

7.7.6 Operate Examples

In this example, the Controller requests that the Agent initiate the SendOnBoardRequest() operation defined in the Device.LocalAgent.Controller. Object.

header {
  msg_id: "42314"
  msg_type: OPERATE
}
body {
  request {
    operate {
      command: 'Device.LocalAgent.Controller.[EndpointID=="controller"].SendOnBoardRequest()'
      command_key: "onboard_command_key"
      send_resp: true
    }
  }
}

header {
  msg_id: "42314"
  msg_type: OPERATE_RESP
}
body {
  response {
    operate_resp {
      operation_results {
        executed_command: "Device.SelfTestDiagnostics()"
        req_obj_path: "Device.LocalAgent.Request.1"
      }
    }
  }
}

7.7.7 The Operate Message

7.7.7.1 Operate Request Fields

string command

This field contains a Command Path or Search Path to an Object defined Operation in one or more Objects.

string command_key

This field contains a string used as a reference by the Controller to match the operation with notifications.

bool send_resp

This field lets the Controller indicate to Agent whether or not it expects a response in association with the operation request.

R-OPR.4 - When send_resp is set to false, the target Endpoint SHOULD NOT send an OperateResp Message to the source Endpoint. If an error occurs during the processing of an Operate Message, the target Endpoint SHOULD send an Error Message to the source Endpoint. If a response is still sent, the responding Endpoint MUST expect that any such response will be ignored.

Note: The requirement in the previous versions of the specification also discouraged the sending of an Error Message, however the Controller issuing the Operate might want to learn about and handle errors occurring during the processing of the Operate request but still ignore execution results.

map<string, string> input_args

This field contains a map of key/value pairs indicating the input arguments (relative to the Command Path in the command field) to be passed to the method indicated in the command field.

R-OPR.5 - A Command can have mandatory input_args as defined in the Supported Data Model. When a mandatory Input argument is omitted from the input_args field, the Agent MUST respond with an Error of type 7004 Invalid arguments and stop processing the Operate Message.

R-OPR.6 - When an unrecognized Input argument is included in the input_args field, the Agent MUST ignore the Input argument and continue processing the Operate Message.

R-OPR.7 - When a non-mandatory Input argument is omitted from the input_args field, the Agent MUST use a default value for the missing Input argument and continue processing the Operate Message.

Refer to Parameter and Argument Value Encoding for details of how argument values are encoded as Protocol Buffers v3 strings.

7.7.7.2 Operate Response Fields

repeated OperationResult operation_results

This field contains a repeated set of OperationResult messages.

7.7.7.2.1 OperationResult Fields

string executed_command

This field contains a Command Path to the Object defined Operation that is the subject of this OperateResp message.

oneof operate_resp

This field contains a message of one of the following types.

  string req_obj_path
  OutputArgs req_output_args
  CommandFailure cmd_failure

7.7.7.2.1.1 Using req_obj_path

The req_obj_path field, when used as the operate_resp, contains an Object Instance Path to the Request Object created as a result of this asynchronous operation.

7.7.7.2.1.2 OutputArgs Fields

map<string, string> output_args

This field contains a map of key/value pairs indicating the output arguments (relative to the command specified in the command field) returned by the method invoked in the Operate Message. Refer to Parameter and Argument Value Encoding for details of how argument values are encoded as Protocol Buffers v3 strings.

7.7.7.2.1.3 CommandFailure Fields

fixed32 err_code

This field contains a numeric code (see Error Codes) indicating the type of the error that caused the operation to fail.

string err_msg

This field contains additional (human readable) information about the reason behind the error.

7.7.7.3 Operate Message Error Codes

Appropriate error codes for the Operate Message include 7000-7008, 7016, 7022, 7026, 7027, and 7800-7999.

7.8 Error Codes

USP uses error codes with a range 7000-7999 for both Controller and Agent errors. The errors appropriate for each Message (and how they must be implemented) are defined in the message descriptions below.

7.8.1 Vendor Defined Error Codes

Implementations of USP MAY specify their own error codes for use with Errors and Responses. These codes use the 7800-7999 series. There are no requirements on the content of these errors.

8 Authentication and Authorization

• 8.1 Authentication
• 8.2 Role Based Access Control (RBAC)
• 8.3 Trusted Certificate Authorities
• 8.4 Trusted Brokers
• 8.5 Self-Signed Certificates
• 8.6 Agent Authentication
• 8.7 Challenge Strings and Images
• 8.8 Analysis of Controller Certificates
• 8.9 Theory of Operations

USP contains mechanisms for Authentication and Authorization, and Encryption. Encryption can be provided at the MTP layer, the USP layer, or both. Where Endpoints can determine (through Authentication) that the termination points of the MTP and USP messages are the same, MTP encryption is sufficient to provide end-to-end encryption and security. Where the termination points are different (because there is a proxy or other intermediate device between the USP Endpoints), USP layer End to End Message Exchange is required, or the intermediate device must be a trusted part of the end-to-end ecosystem.

8.1 Authentication

Authentication of Controllers is done using X.509 certificates as defined in [34] and [22]. Authentication of Agents is done either by using X.509 certificates or shared secrets. X.509 certificates, at a minimum, need to be usable for Securing MTPs with TLS or DTLS protocols. It is recommended that Agents implement the ability to encrypt all MTPs using one of these two protocols, enable it by default, and not implement the ability to disable it.

In order to support various authentication models (e.g., trust Endpoint identity and associated certificate on first use; precise Endpoint identity is indicated in a certificate issued by a trusted Certificate Authority; trust that MTP connection is being made to a member of a trusted domain as verified by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA)), this specification provides guidance based on conditions under which the Endpoint is operating, and on the Endpoint’s policy for storing certificates of other Endpoints or certificates of trusted CAs. The Device.LocalAgent.Certificate. Object can be implemented if choosing to expose these stored certificates through the data model. See the Theory of Operations, Certificate Management subsection, below for additional information.

R-SEC.0 - Prior to processing a USP Message from a Controller, the Agent MUST either:

• have the Controller’s certificate information and have a cryptographically protected connection between the two Endpoints, or
• have a Trusted Broker’s certificate information and have a cryptographically protected connection between the Agent and the Trusted Broker

R-SEC.0a - Whenever a X.509 certificate is used to authenticate a USP Endpoint, the certificate MUST contain a representation of the Endpoint ID in the subjectAltName extension. This representation MUST be either the URN form of the Endpoint ID with a type uniformResourceIdentifier attribute OR, in the specific case where the Endpoint ID has an authority-scheme of fqdn, the instance-id portion of the Endpoint ID with a type dNSName attribute. When this type of authentication is used at the MTP layer, USP Endpoints MUST check the from_id field of received USP Records and MUST NOT process Records that do not match the Endpoint ID found in the certificate.

TLS and DTLS both have handshake mechanisms that allow for exchange of certificate information. If the MTP connection is between the Agent and Controller (for example, without going through any application-layer proxy or other intermediate application-layer middle-box), then a secure MTP connection will be sufficient to ensure end-to-end protection, and the USP Record can use payload_security “PLAINTEXT” encoding of the Message. If the middle-box is part of a trusted end-to-end ecosystem, the MTP connection may also be considered sufficient. Otherwise, the USP Record will use End to End Message Exchange.

Whether a Controller requires Agent certificates is left up to the Controller implementation.

8.2 Role Based Access Control (RBAC)

It is expected that Agents will have some sort of Access Control List (ACL) that will define different levels of authorization for interacting with the Agent’s data model. This specification refers to different levels of authorization as “Roles”. The Agent may be so simple as to only support a single Role that gives full access to its data model; or it may have just an “untrusted” Role and a “full access” Role. Or it may be significantly more complex with, for example, “untrusted” Role, different Roles for parents and children in a customer household, and a different Role for the service provider Controller. These Roles may be fully defined in the Agent’s code, or Role definition may be allowed via the data model.

R-SEC.1 - An Agent MUST confirm a Controller has the necessary permissions to perform the requested actions in a Message prior to performing that action.

R-SEC.1a - Agents SHOULD implement the Controller Object with the AssignedRole Parameter (with at least read-only data model definition) and InheritedRole Parameter (if allowed Roles can come from a trusted CA), so users can see what Controllers have access to the Agent and their permissions. This will help users identify rogue Controllers that may have gained access to the Agent.

See the Theory of Operations, Roles (Access Control) and Assigning Controller Roles subsections, below for additional information on data model elements that can be implemented to expose information and allow control of Role definition and assignment.

8.3 Trusted Certificate Authorities

An Endpoint can have a configured list of trusted Certificate Authority (CA) certificates. The Agent policy may trust the CA to authorize authenticated Controllers to have a specific default Role, or the policy may only trust the CA to authenticate the Controller identity. The Controller policy may require an Agent certificate to be signed by a trusted CA before the Controller exchanges USP Messages with the Agent.

R-SEC.2 - To confirm a certificate was signed by a trusted CA, the Endpoint MUST contain information from one or more trusted CA certificates that are either pre-loaded in the Endpoint or provided to the Endpoint by a secure means. At a minimum, this stored information will include a certificate fingerprint and fingerprint algorithm used to generate the fingerprint. The stored information MAY be the entire certificate.

This secure means can be accomplished through USP (see Theory of Operations), Certificate Management subsection, making use of the Device.LocalAgent.Certificate. Object), or through a mechanism external to USP. The stored CA certificates can be root or intermediate CAs.

R-SEC.3 - Where a CA is trusted to authenticate Controller identity, the Agent MUST ensure that the Controller certificate conforms with the R-SEC.0a requirement.

R-SEC.4 - Where a CA is trusted to authorize a Controller Role, the Agent MUST ensure either that the Controller certificate matches the certificate stored in the Credential Parameter of the Device.LocalAgent.Controller. entry specific to that Controller OR that the Controller certificate itself is suitable for authentication as per the R-SEC.0a requirement.

Note that trusting a CA to authorize a Controller Role requires the Agent to maintain an association between a CA certificate and the Role(s) that CA is trusted to authorize. If the Agent allows CAs to authorize Roles, the Agent will need to identify specific CA certificates in a Controller’s chain of trust that can authorize Roles. The specific Role(s) associated with such a CA certificate can then be inherited by the Controller. The Device.LocalAgent.ControllerTrust.Credential. Object can be implemented to expose and allow control over trust and authorization of CAs.

Note that if an Agent supports and has enabled a Trust on First Use (TOFU) policy, it is possible for Controllers signed by unknown CAs to be granted the “untrusted role”. See Figure 22 and Figure 23 and the penultimate bullet in the Assigning Controller Roles section below for more information related to TOFU and the “untrusted” role.

8.4 Trusted Brokers

An Endpoint can have a configured list of Trusted Broker certificates. The Endpoint policy would be to trust the broker to vouch for the identity of Endpoints it brokers – effectively authenticating the from_id contained in a received USP Record. The Agent policy may trust the broker to authorize all Controllers whose Records transit the broker to have a specific default Role.

R-SEC.4a - To confirm a certificate belongs to a Trusted Broker, the Endpoint MUST contain information from one or more Trusted Broker certificates that are either pre-loaded in the Endpoint or provided to the Endpoint by a secure means. This stored information MUST be sufficient to determine if a presented certificate is the Trusted Broker certificate.

This secure means of loading certificate information into an Agent can be accomplished through USP (see Theory of Operations section related to Certificate Management), or through a mechanism external to USP.

Note that trusting a broker to authorize a Controller Role requires the Agent to maintain an association between a Trusted Broker certificate and the Role(s) that Trusted Broker is trusted to authorize. The Device.LocalAgent.ControllerTrust.Credential. Object can be implemented to expose and allow control over identifying Trusted Brokers. The AllowedUses Parameter is used to indicate whether an entry is a Trusted Broker.

R-SEC.4b - A Trusted Broker MUST confirm the identity of all clients by exclusively allowing authentication via unique client certificates that identify the USP Endpoint. Also the confidentiality of all communications MUST be guaranteed by a Trusted Broker, i.e. there MUST NOT be any possibility to forward the communication between Endpoints to another party.

R-SEC.4c - A Trusted Broker MUST guarantee that USP Records sent from clients contain the correct value for the from_id field, tying it to the identity provided during the connection establishment. A Trusted Broker MUST NOT inspect USP payloads contained in USP Records.

8.5 Self-Signed Certificates

R-SEC.5 - An Endpoint that generates a self-signed certificate MUST ensure that the certificate is suitable for USP authentication as per the R-SEC.0a requirement.

Self-signed certificates supplied by Controllers can only be meaningfully used in cases where a person is in a position to provide Authorization (what Role the Controller is trusted to have). Whether or not an Agent allows self-signed certificates from a Controller is a matter of Agent policy.

R-SEC.6 - If an Agent allows Controllers to provide self-signed certificates, the Agent MUST assign such Controllers an “untrusted” Role on first use.

That is, the Agent will trust the certificate for purpose of encryption, but will heavily restrict what the Controller is authorized to do. See Figure 22 and Figure 23 and the penultimate bullet in the Assigning Controller Roles section below for more information related to TOFU and the “untrusted” role.

R-SEC.7 - If an Agent allows Controllers to provide self-signed certificates, the Agent MUST have a means of allowing an external entity to change the Role of each such Controller.

Controller policy related to trust of Agent self-signed certificates is left to the Controller. Controllers may be designed to refuse self-signed certificates (thereby refusing to control the Agent), they may have a means of allowing a person to approve controlling the Agent via the Controller, or they may automatically accept the Agent.

R-SEC.8 - An Endpoint that accepts self-signed certificates MUST maintain the association of accepted certificate and Endpoint IDs.

Self-signed certificates require a “trust on first use” (TOFU) policy when using them to authenticate an Endpoint’s identity. An external entity (a trusted Controller or user) can then authorize the authenticated Endpoint to have certain permissions. Subsequent to the first use, this same self-signed certificate can be trusted to establish the identity of that Endpoint. However, authentication of the Endpoint can only be subsequently trusted if the association of certificate to identity is remembered (i.e., it is known this is the same certificate that was used previously by that Endpoint). If it is not remembered, then every use is effectively a first use and would need to rely on an external entity to authorize permissions every time. The Device.LocalAgent.Certificate. Object can be implemented if choosing to expose and allow control of remembered certificates in the data model.

8.6 Agent Authentication

R-SEC.9 - Controllers MUST authenticate Agents either through X.509 certificates, a shared secret, or by trusting a Trusted Broker to vouch for Agent identity.

When authentication is done using X.509 certificates, it is up to Controller policy whether to allow for Agents with self-signed certificates or to require Agent certificates be signed by a CA.

Note that allowing use of, method for transmitting, and procedure for handling shared secrets is specific to the MTP used, as described in Message Transfer Protocols. Shared secrets that are not unique per device are not recommended as they leave devices highly vulnerable to various attacks – especially devices exposed to the Internet.

R-SEC.10 - An Agent certificate MUST be suitable for USP authentication as per the R-SEC.0a requirement.

R-SEC.10a - The certificate subjectAltName extension MUST be used to authenticate the USP Record from_id for any Records secured with an Agent certificate.

Agent certificates can be used to secure Records by encrypting at the MTP layer and/or encrypting at the USP layer.

Some Controller implementations may allow multiple Agents to share a single certificate with a wildcarded Endpoint ID.

R-SEC.11 - If a single certificate is shared among multiple Agents, those Agents MUST include a wild-carded instance-id in the Endpoint ID in the subjectAltName extension with identical authority-scheme and authority-id.

Use of a shared certificate is not recommended, and which portion of the instance-id can be wildcarded may be specific to the authorizing CA or to the authority-id and authority-scheme values of the Endpoint ID. Wildcards can only be allowed in cases where the assigning entity is explicitly identified. Controllers are not required to support wildcarded certificates.

R-SEC.12 - If a wildcard character is present in the instance-id of an Endpoint ID in a certificate subjectAltName extension, the authority-scheme MUST be one of “oui”, “cid”, “pen”, “os”, or “ops”. In the case of “os” and “ops”, the portion of the instance-id that identifies the assigning entity MUST NOT be wildcarded.

8.7 Challenge Strings and Images

It is possible for the Agent to allow an external entity to change a Controller Role by means of a Challenge string or image. This Challenge string or image can take various forms, including having a user supply a passphrase or a PIN. Such a string could be printed on the Agent packaging, or supplied by means of a SMS to a phone number associated with the user account. These Challenge strings or images can be done using USP operations. Independent of how challenges are accomplished, following are some basic requirements related to Challenge strings and images.

R-SEC.13 - The Agent MAY have factory-default Challenge value(s) (strings or images) in its configuration.

R-SEC.14 - A factory-default Challenge value MUST be unique to the Agent. Re-using the same passphrase among multiple Agents is not permitted.

R-SEC.15 - A factory-default Challenge value MUST NOT be derivable from information the Agent communicates about itself using any protocol at any layer.

R-SEC.16 - The Agent MUST limit the number of tries for the Challenge value to be supplied successfully.

R-SEC.17 - The Agent SHOULD have policy to lock out all use of Challenge values for some time, or indefinitely, if the number of tries limit is exceeded.

See the Theory of Operations, Challenges subsection, below for a description of data model elements that need to be implemented and are used when doing challenges through USP operations.

8.8 Analysis of Controller Certificates

An Agent will analyze Controller certificates to determine if they are valid, are appropriate for authentication of Controllers, and to determine what permissions (Role) a Controller has. The Agent will also determine whether MTP encryption is sufficient to provide end-to-end protection of the Record and Message, or if USP layer End to End Message Exchange is required.

The diagrams in this section use the database symbol to identify where the described information can be represented in the data model, if an implementation chooses to expose this information through the USP protocol.

8.8.1 Receiving a USP Record

R-SEC.19 - An Agent capable of obtaining absolute time SHOULD wait until it has accurate absolute time before contacting a Controller. If an Agent for any reason is unable to obtain absolute time, it can contact the Controller without waiting for accurate absolute time. If an Agent chooses to contact a Controller before it has accurate absolute time (or if it does not support absolute time), it MUST ignore those components of the Controller certificate that involve absolute time, e.g. not-valid-before and not-valid-after certificate restrictions.

R-SEC.20 - An Agent that has obtained accurate absolute time MUST validate those components of the Controller certificate that involve absolute time.

R-SEC.21 – An Agent MUST clear all cached encryption session and Role authorization information when it reboots.

R-SEC.22 - When an Agent receives a USP Record, the Agent MUST execute logic that achieves the same results as in the mandatory decision flow elements (identified with “MUST”) from Figure 19 and Figure 20.

R-SEC.22a - When an Agent receives a USP Record, the Agent SHOULD execute logic that achieves the same results as in the optional decision flow elements (identified with “OPT”) from Figure 19 and Figure 20.

8.8.2 Sending a USP Record

R-SEC.23 - When an Agent sends a USP Record, the Agent MUST execute logic that achieves the same results as in the mandatory decision flow elements (identified with “MUST”) from Figure 21.

R-SEC.23a - When an Agent sends a USP Record, the Agent SHOULD execute logic that achieves the same results as in the optional decision flow elements (identified with “OPT”) from Figure 21.

8.8.3 Checking a Certificate

R-SEC.24 - When an Agent analyzes a Controller certificate for authentication and determining permissions (Role), the Agent MUST execute logic that achieves the same results as in the mandatory decision flow elements (identified with “MUST”) from Figure 22 and Figure 23.

R-SEC.24a - When an Agent analyzes a Controller certificate for authentication and determining permissions (Role), the Agent SHOULD execute logic that achieves the same results as in the optional decision flow elements (identified with “OPT”) from Figure 22 and Figure 23.

R-SEC.25 - When determining the inherited Role to apply based on Roles associated with a trusted CA, only the first matching CA in the chain will be used.

8.8.4 Using a Trusted Broker

Support for Trusted Broker logic is optional.

R-SEC.26 - If Trusted Brokers are supported, and a Trusted Broker is encountered (from the optional “OPT” “Trusted Broker cert?” decision diamonds in Figure 20, Figure 21) the Agent MUST execute logic that achieves the same results as in the mandatory decision flow elements (identified with “MUST”) from Figure 24 for a received USP Record and Figure 25 for sending a USP Record.

R-SEC.26a - If Trusted Brokers are supported, and a Trusted Broker is encountered (from the optional “OPT” “Trusted Broker cert?” decision diamonds in Figure 20, Figure 21) the Agent SHOULD execute logic that achieves the same results as in the optional decision flow elements (identified with “OPT”) from Figure 24 for a received USP Record and Figure 25 for sending a USP Record.

8.9 Theory of Operations

The following theory of operations relies on Objects, Parameters, events, and operations from the LocalAgent Object of the Device:2 Data Model [3].

8.9.1 Data Model Elements

These data model elements play a role in reporting on and allowing control of trusted Controllers and the permissions they have to read and write parts of the Agent’s data model, and allowing an Agent to establish trust with a Controller.

• LocalAgent.Controller.{i}.AssignedRole Parameter
• LocalAgent.Controller.{i}.InheritedRole Parameter
• LocalAgent.Controller.{i}.Credential Parameter

From component ControllerTrust:

• Object LocalAgent.ControllerTrust.
• Parameters UntrustedRole, BannedRole, SecuredRoles, TOFUAllowed, TOFUInactivityTimer
• Commands RequestChallenge(), ChallengeResponse()
• Object LocalAgent.ControllerTrust.Role.{i}.
• Object LocalAgent.ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}.
• Object LocalAgent.ControllerTrust.Challenge.{i}.

The Object LocalAgent.Certificate. can be used to manage Controller and CA certificates, along with the LocalAgent.AddCertificate() and LocalAgent.Controller.{i}.AddMyCertificate() commands.

For brevity, Device.LocalAgent. is not placed in front of all further Object references in this Security section. However, all Objects references are under Device.LocalAgent.. This section does not describe use of Parameters under other top level components.

8.9.2 Roles (Access Control)

Controller permissions are conveyed in the data model through Roles.

8.9.2.1 Role Definition

A Role is described in the data model through use of the ControllerTrust.Role.{i}. Object. Each entry in this Object identifies the Role it describes, and has a Permission. Sub-Object for the Targets (data model Path Names that the related permissions apply to), permissions related to Parameters, Objects, instantiated Objects, and commands identified by the Targets Parameter, and the relative Order of precedence among Permission. entries for the Role (the larger value of this Parameter takes priority over an entry with a smaller value in the case of overlapping Targets entries for the Role).

The permissions of a Role for the specified Target entries are described by Param, Obj, InstantiatedObj, and CommandEvent Parameters. Each of these is expressed as a string of 4 characters where each character represents a permission (“r” for Read, “w” for Write, “x” for Execute”, and “n” for Notify). The 4 characters are always presented in the same order in the string (rwxn) and the lack of a permission is signified by a “-” character (e.g., r--n). How these permissions are applied to Parameters, Objects, and various Messages is described in the data model description of these Parameters.

An Agent that wants to allow Controllers to define and modify Roles will implement the ControllerTrust.Role.{i}. Object with all of the Parameters listed in the data model. In order for a Controller to define or modify Role entries, it will need to be assigned a Role that gives it the necessary permission. Care should be taken to avoid defining this Role’s permissions such that an Agent with this Role can modify the Role and no longer make future modifications to the ControllerTrust.Role.{i}. Object.

A simple Agent that only wants to inform Controllers of pre-defined Roles (with no ability to modify or define additional Roles) can implement the ControllerTrust.Role. Object with read-only data model definition for all entries and Parameters. A simple Agent could even implement the Object with read-only data model definition and just the Alias and Role Parameters, and no Permission. Sub-Object; this could be sufficient in a case where the Role names convey enough information (e.g., there are only two pre-defined Roles named "Untrusted" and "FullAccess").

8.9.2.2 Special Roles

Three special Roles are identified by the UntrustedRole, BannedRole and SecuredRoles Parameters under the ControllerTrust. Object. An Agent can expose these Parameters with read-only data model implementation if it simply wants to tell Controllers the names of these specific Roles.

The UntrustedRole is the Role the Agent will automatically assign to any Controller that has not been authorized for a different Role. Any Agent that has a means of allowing a Controller’s Role to be changed (by users through a Challenge string, by other Controllers through modification of Controller.{i}.AssignedRole, or through some other external means) and that allows “unknown” Controllers to attach will need to have an “untrusted” Role defined; even if the identity of this Role is not exposed to Controllers through implementation of the UntrustedRole Parameter.

The BannedRole (if implemented) is assigned automatically by the Agent to Controllers whose certificates have been revoked. If it is not implemented, the Agent can use the UntrustedRole for this, as well. It is also possible to simply implement policy for treatment of invalid or revoked certificates (e.g., refuse to connect), rather than associate them with a specific Role. This is left to the Agent policy implementation.

The SecuredRoles (if implemented) is the Role assigned to Controllers that are authorized to have access to secured Parameter values. If the SecuredRoles is not assigned to a given Controller, or if the SecuredRoles is not implemented, then secured Parameters are to be considered as hidden, in which case the Agent returns a null value, e.g. an empty string, to this Controller, regardless of the actual value. Only Controllers with a secured Role assigned (and the appropriate permissions set), are able to have access to secured parameter values.

8.9.2.3 A Controller’s Role

A Controller’s assigned Roles can be conveyed by the Controller.{i}.AssignedRole Parameter. This Parameter is a list of all Role values assigned to the Controller through means other than ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}.Role. A Controller’s inherited Roles (those inherited from ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}.Role as described in the next section) need to be maintained separately from assigned Roles and can be conveyed by the Controller.{i}.InheritedRole Parameter. Where multiple assigned and inherited Roles have overlapping Targets entries, the resulting permission is the union of all assigned and inherited permissions. For example, if two Roles have the same Targets with one Role assigning the Targets Param a value of r--- and the other Role assigning Param a value of ---n, the resulting permission will be r--n. This is done after determining which ControllerTrust.Role.{i}.Permission.{i} entry to apply for each Role for specific Targets, in the case where a Role has overlapping Permission.{i}.Targets entries for the same Role.

For example, Given the following ControllerTrust.Role.{i}. entries:

  i=1, Role = "A"; Permission.1.: Targets = "Device.LocalAgent.", Order = 3, Param = "r---"
  i=1, Role = "A"; Permission.2.: Targets = "Device.LocalAgent.Controller.", Order = 55, Param = "r-xn"
  i=3, Role = "B"; Permission.1: Targets = "Device.LocalAgent.", Order = 20, Param = "r---"
  i=3, Role = "B"; Permission.5: Targets = "Device.LocalAgent.Controller.", Order = 78, Param = "----"

and Device.LocalAgent.Controller.1.AssignedRole = “Device.LocalAgent. ControllerTrust.Role.1., Device.LocalAgent. ControllerTrust.Role.3.”

When determining permissions for the Device.LocalAgent.Controller. table, the Agent will first determine that for Role A Permission.2 takes precedence over Permission.1 (55 > 3). For B, Permission.5 takes precedence over Permission.1 (78 > 20). The union of A and B is “r-xn” + “—-” = “r-xn”.

8.9.2.4 Role Associated with a Credential or Challenge

The ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}.Role Parameter value is inherited by Controllers whose credentials have been validated using the credentials in the same entry of the ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}. table. Whenever ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}. is used to validate a certificate, the Agent writes the current value of the associated ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}.Role into the Controller.{i}.InheritedRole Parameter. For more information on use of this table for assigning Controller Roles and validating credentials, see the sections below.

The ControllerTrust.Challenge.{i}.Role Parameter is a Role that is assigned to Controllers that send a successful ChallengeResponse() command. For more information on use of challenges for assigning Controller Roles, see the sections below.

8.9.3 Assigning Controller Roles

As mentioned above, the Controller.{i}.AssignedRole Parameter can be used to expose the Controller’s assigned Role via the data model.

Note: Even if it is not exposed through the data model, the Agent is expected to maintain knowledge of the permissions assigned to each known Controller.

Controllers can be assigned Roles through a variety of methods, depending on the data model elements an Agent implements and the Agent’s coded policy. Note that it is possible for an Agent to maintain trusted CA credentials with associated permissions (as described by the ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}. Object) and various default permission definitions (as identified by the UntrustedRole and BannedRole Parameters) without exposing these through the data model. If the data is maintained but not exposed, the same methods can still be used.

Figure 22 and Figure 23 in the above Analysis of Controller Certificates section identify points in the decision logic where some of the following calls to data model Parameters can be made. The following bullets note when they are identified in one of these figures.

• Another Controller (with appropriate permission) can insert a Controller (including the AssignedRole Parameter value) into the Controller.{i}. table, or can modify the AssignedRole Parameter of an existing Controller.{i}. entry. The InheritedRole value cannot be modified by another Controller.

• If credentials in an entry in a ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}.Credential Parameter with an associated ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}.Role Parameter are used to successfully validate the certificate presented by the Controller, the Controller inherits the Role from the associated ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}.Role. The Agent writes this value to the Controller.{i}.InheritedRole Parameter. This step is shown in Figure 23.

• A Controller whose associated certificate is revoked by a CA can be assigned the role in BannedRole, if this Parameter or policy is implemented. In this case, the value of BannedRole must be the only value in Controller.{i}.AssignedRole (all other entries are removed) and Controller.{i}.InheritedRole must be empty (all entries are removed). This step is shown in Figure 22. In the case of a Controller that has not previously been assigned a Role or who has been assigned the value of UntrustedRole:

• If the Controller’s certificate is validated by credentials in a ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}.Credential Parameter but there is no associated ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}.Role Parameter (or the value is empty) and Controller.{i}.AssignedRole is empty, then the Controller is assigned the role in UntrustedRole (written to the Controller.{i}.AssignedRole Parameter). This step is shown in Figure 23. Note that assigning UntrustedRole means there needs to be some implemented way to elevate the Controller’s Role, either by another Controller manipulating the Role, implementing Challenges, or some non-USP method.

• If the Controller’s certificate is self-signed or is validated by credentials not in ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}., the Agent policy may be to assign the role in UntrustedRole. The optional policy decision (whether or not to allow Trust on First Use (TOFU), which can be codified in the data model with the ControllerTrust.TOFUAllowed flag) is shown in Figure 22; Figure 23 shows the Role assignment.

• If the Agent implements the RequestChallenge() and ChallengeResponse() commands, a Controller assigned the role in UntrustedRole can have permission to read one or more ControllerTrust.Challenge.{i}.Alias and Description values and issue the commands. Roles with more extensive permissions can have permission to read additional ControllerTrust.Challenge.{i}.Alias and Description values. A successful Challenge results in the Controller being assigned the associated Role value.

8.9.4 Controller Certificates and Certificate Validation

When an Agent is presented with a Controller’s certificate, the Agent will always attempt to validate the certificate to whatever extent possible. Figure 20, Figure 22 and Figure 23 identify points in the decision logic where data model Parameters can be used to influence policy decisions related to Controller certificate analysis.

Note that it is possible for an Agent to maintain policy of the type described by the UntrustedRole, BannedRole, and the information described by ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}. and Controller.{i}.Credential without exposing these through the data model. If the policy concepts and data are maintained but not exposed, the same methods can still be used. It is also possible for an Agent to have policy that is not described by any defined data model element.

8.9.5 Challenges

An Agent can implement the ability to provide Controllers with challenges via USP, in order to be trusted with certain Roles. It is also possible to use non-USP methods to issue challenges, such as HTTP digest authentication with prompts for login and password.

To use the USP mechanism, the RequestChallenge() and ChallengeResponse() commands and ControllerTrust.Challenge.{i}. Object with at least the Alias, Role, and Description Parameters needs to be implemented. The functionality implied by the other ControllerTrust.Challenge.{i}. Parameters needs to be implemented, but does not have to be exposed through the data model.

A Controller that sends a Get Message on Device.ControllerTrust.Challenge.{i}. will receive all entries and Parameters that are allowed for its current assigned Role. In the simplest case, this will be a single entry and only Alias and Description will be supplied for that entry. It is important to restrict visibility to all other implemented Parameters to highly trusted Roles, if at all.

The Controller can display the value of Description to the user and allow the user to indicate they want to request the described challenge. If multiple entries were returned, the user can be asked to select which challenge they want to request, based on the description. An example of a description might be “Request administrative privileges” or “Request guest privilege”.

When the user indicates to the Controller which challenge they want, the Controller sends RequestChallenge() with the Path Name of the Challenge Object Instance associated with the desired Description. The Agent replies with the associated Instruction, InstructionType, ValueType and an auto-generated ChallengeID. The Controller presents the value of Instruction to the user (in a manner appropriate for InstructionType). Examples of an instruction might be “Enter passphrase printed on bottom of device” or “Enter PIN sent to registered email address”. The user enters a string per the instructions, and the Controller sends this value together with the ChallengeID in ChallengeResponse().

If the returned value matches Value, the Agent gives a successful response - otherwise it returns an unsuccessful response. If successful, the ControllerTrust.Challenge.{i}.Role replaces an UntrustedRole in Controller.{i}.AssignedRole or is appended to any other Controller.{i}.AssignedRole value.

The number of times a ControllerTrust.Challenge.{i}. entry can be consecutively failed (across all Controllers, without intermediate success) is defined by Retries. Once the number of failed consecutive attempts equals Retries, the ControllerTrust.Challenge.{i}. cannot be retried until after LockoutPeriod has expired.

Type values other than Passphrase can be used and defined to trigger custom mechanisms, such as requests for emailed or SMS-provided PINs.

8.9.6 Certificate Management

If an Agent wants to allow certificates associated with Controllers and CAs to be exposed through USP, the Agent can implement the Controller.{i}.Credential and ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}.Credential Parameters, which require implementation of the LocalAgent.Certificate. Object. Allowing management of these certificates through USP can be accomplished by implementing LocalAgent.AddCertificate(), Controller.{i}.AddMyCertificate() and Certificate.{i}.Delete() commands.

To allow a Controller to check whether the Agent has correct certificates, the Certificate.{i}.GetFingerprint() command can be implemented.

8.9.7 Application of Modified Parameters

It is possible that various Parameters related to authentication and authorization may change that would impact cached encrypted sessions and Role permissions for Controllers. Example of such Parameters include Controller.{i}.AssignedRole, Controller.{i}.Credential, ControllerTrust.Role. definition of a Role, and ControllerTrust.Credential.{i}.Role.

There is no expectation that an Agent will apply these changes to cached sessions. It is up to the Agent to determine whether or not it will detect these changes and flush cached session information. However, it is expected that a reboot will clear all cached session information.