Chris,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Lonvick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 3:37 PM
> To: Rainer Gerhards
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: APP-NAME, PROCID and MSGID in syslog sign - was: RE: [Syslog]
> clonvick WGLC Review of draft-ietf-syslog-sign-20.txt
> 
> Hi Rainer,
> 
> Ahh..  I see your point now.  (Sorry - being a little slow this week.)
> 
> All:  I'm tending to agree with Rainer's point that no value should be
> specified for APP-NAME.  Does anyone think that the document should
> suggest something for fixed-function devices such as printers which
> might
> not have a syslogd?  Currently syslog-protocol allows a NILVALUE if
> nothing better can be used.

I think they should use whatever the use with other messages. For
example, they might use "router". Sure, this is not intelligent. But my
point is that this should not be of concern for syslog-sign.

> 
> Similarly, PROCID may be NIVALUE in syslog-protocol if the device
> cannot
> produce it.  I'm OK with that for syslog-sign as well.
> 
> Finally, I'd still like to keep "sig" for the MSGID.  This should
allow
> for parsers (automated and manual searches) to find syslog-sign
> messages
> quickly.  

I do not object it, as long as we caution implementors that a MSGID of
"sig" does not necessarily indicate this is a syslog-sign message. We
can not guarantee that, because we did not reserve any message ids at
all. So it may be a clue, but it is nothing to rely on. Which brings me
to the point: what is the advantage of an unreliable indicator?

>This won't be the only mechanism to identify a syslog-sign
> message.  I believe that a syslog-sign message would have to:
> - be sent to PRI = 110
> - have MSGID = "sig"
> - contain an SD-ID with the SD-PARAM of "ssign" or "ssign-cert"
> I don't think that we need a registry of MSGIDs for this.

For me, the SD-ID is the only valid indicator that this is a syslog-sign
message. We can not rely on PRI as operators like to reconfigure PRI.
Even if we mandate a fixed PRI in the specification, real-world
implementations will ignore that requirement and still allow the
operator to override it (and this for a good reason). On the other hand,
SD-IDs *are* under IANA control and the absolutely positively identify
the element that they are contained in. This is what we designed them
for. So why not use them for their design purpose?

With RFC 3164 syslog, we obviously can not totally be assured that the
SD-ID will be valid. But we should keep in mind that we most probably
will try to obsolete 3164 either via -protocol or a follow-up RFC. I
already questioned the point in supporting this (informational!)
document in a new standard. Is this really a wise idea?

Rainer
> 
> If anyone has issues with any of this, please speak up now.  I'd like
> to
> get this settled so we can update and send this to the IESG when the
> WGLC
> ends.
> 
> Thanks,
> Chis
> 
> 
> On Tue, 19 Dec 2006, Rainer Gerhards wrote:
> 
> > Chris,
> >
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: Chris Lonvick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >> Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 10:18 PM
> >> To: Rainer Gerhards
> >> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >> Subject: RE: [Syslog] clonvick WGLC Review of
> >> draft-ietf-syslog-sign-20.txt
> >>
> >> Hi Rainer,
> >>
> >> On Mon, 18 Dec 2006, Rainer Gerhards wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi,
> >>>
> >>> So far, I have not been able to do a full review. But this
> >> triggers my
> >>> attention immediately...
> >>>
> >>>> Perhaps restructure that as:
> >>>>
> >>>>     A Signature Block message that is compliant with RFC xxxx
> >>>> [14] MUST
> >>>>     contain valid APP-NAME, PROCID, and MSGID fields.
> >>>> Specifically, the
> >>>>     value for APP-NAME MUST be "syslog" (without the
> >> double quotes).
> >>>>     The value for MSG-ID MUST be "sig" (without the double
> >>>> quotes).  The
> >>>>     value for the PRI field MSUT be 110, corresponding to
> >> facility 13
> >>>>     and severity 6 (informational).  The Signature Block
> >> is carried as
> >>>>     Structured Data within the Signature Block message, per the
> >>>>     definitions that follow in the next section.
> >>>>
> >>>> Similar in Section 5.3.1.
> >>>
> >>> Syslog-protocol does not reserve any specific values for APP-NAME,
> >>> PROCID and MSGID. So (at least theoretically), another
> >> implementor migth
> >>> use the suggested values for any other case.
> >>>
> >>> As an implementor, I would probably like to consistenly use the
> same
> >>> APP-NAME. For example, all messages in rsyslog will be logged as
> >>> "rsyslogd".
> >>>
> >>> I have just quickly read the IANA section (9.1): there is no such
> >>> registry like "APP-NAME". It might eventually be a good
> >> idea to create
> >>> one, but I am not sure if it is worth the trouble. In any
> >> case, I think
> >>> that must be spelled out in -protocol (else I can implement
> somthing
> >>> compliant to -protocol but not -sign). Same goes for MSGID.
> >>>
> >>> My recommendation (without a full read of the document...)
> >> is to remove
> >>> any dependencies on APP-NAME, PROCID and MSGID and use
> >> structured data
> >>> fields for them. Otherwise, I foresee that I need a lot of
> hardcoded
> >>> exception inside a syslog implementation to "mangle" this
> >> fields so that
> >>> the happen to be right for -sign while they are invalid
> >> from the overall
> >>> application point of view.
> >>
> >> We're going to have "ssign" and "ssign-cert" as the SD-IDs used for
> >> syslog-sign.  I don't think that there are any dependencies
> >> on APP-NAME,
> >> PROCID and MSGID for the proper working of syslog-sign;
> >
> > From the quoted text above:
> >
> >>>     value for ####APP-NAME MUST be "syslog"#### (without the
double
> > quotes).
> >>>     The value for ####MSG-ID MUST be "sig"#### (without the double
> >
> > If APP-NAME and MSG-ID *MUST* contain something specific, I think
> there
> > is a strong dependency.
> >
> >> they're just there
> >> to make sure that these messages are placed consistently into
> >> the right
> >> bins.  The "ssign" and "ssign-cert" SD-IDs will be reserved for
> this.
> >
> > I do not see how this addresses the concerns I mentioned above. I
can
> > not implement it without interfering with my application design in a
> way
> > that I do not find justified. How does mandating a specific APP-NAME
> and
> > MSG-ID make sure that they are put into the right bins? Many stock
> > syslogds can not even filter on these fields...
> >
> > Rainer
> >

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