Internet-Draft | HTTP Datagrams | March 2022 |
Schinazi & Pardue | Expires 24 September 2022 | [Page] |
This document describes HTTP Datagrams, a convention for conveying multiplexed, potentially unreliable datagrams inside an HTTP connection.¶
In HTTP/3, HTTP Datagrams can be conveyed natively using the QUIC DATAGRAM extension. To enable seamless transfer of HTTP Datagrams in other protocol versions, this document also defines the Capsule Protocol, a more general convention for conveying data in HTTP connections.¶
Both are intended for use by HTTP extensions, not applications.¶
This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC.¶
Discussion of this document takes place on the MASQUE WG mailing list (masque@ietf.org), which is archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/masque/.¶
Source for this draft and an issue tracker can be found at https://github.com/ietf-wg-masque/draft-ietf-masque-h3-datagram.¶
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.¶
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.¶
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."¶
This Internet-Draft will expire on 24 September 2022.¶
Copyright (c) 2022 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.¶
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.¶
HTTP extensions sometimes need to access underlying transport protocol features such as unreliable delivery (as offered by [DGRAM]) to enable desirable features like an unreliable version of the CONNECT method, and unreliable delivery in WebSockets [RFC6455] (or its successors).¶
In Section 2, this document describes HTTP Datagrams, a convention for conveying multiplexed, bidirectional datagrams inside a HTTP connection. They are intended for use by HTTP extensions (such as the CONNECT method), and are compatible with all versions of HTTP. When the underlying transport protocol supports unreliable delivery (such as when the QUIC DATAGRAM extension is available in HTTP/3), they use that capability.¶
It also describes the HTTP Capsule Protocol in Section 3, to allow conveyance of HTTP Datagrams over other versions of HTTP.¶
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.¶
HTTP Datagrams are a convention for conveying bidirectional and potentially unreliable datagrams inside an HTTP connection, with multiplexing when possible. All HTTP Datagrams are associated with an HTTP request.¶
When HTTP Datagrams are conveyed on a HTTP/3 connection, the QUIC DATAGRAM frame is used to achieve these goals, including unreliable delivery; see Section 2.1. Negotiation is achieved using a SETTING; see Section 2.1.1.¶
When running over HTTP/2, demultiplexing is provided by the HTTP/2 framing layer, but unreliable delivery is unavailable. HTTP Datagrams are negotiated and conveyed using the Capsule Protocol; see Section 2.2.¶
When running over HTTP/1, requests are strictly serialized in the connection, and therefore demultiplexing is not available. Unreliable delivery is likewise not available. HTTP Datagrams are negotiated and conveyed using the Capsule Protocol; see Section 2.2.¶
When used with HTTP/3, the Datagram Data field of QUIC DATAGRAM frames uses the following format (using the notation from the "Notational Conventions" section of [QUIC]):¶
A variable-length integer that contains the value of the client-initiated bidirectional stream that this datagram is associated with, divided by four (the division by four stems from the fact that HTTP requests are sent on client-initiated bidirectional streams, and those have stream IDs that are divisible by four). The largest legal QUIC stream ID value is 262-1, so the largest legal value of Quarter Stream ID is 260-1. Receipt of a frame that includes a larger value MUST be treated as an HTTP/3 connection error of type H3_DATAGRAM_ERROR.¶
The payload of the datagram, whose semantics are defined by the application. Note that this field can be empty.¶
Receipt of a QUIC DATAGRAM frame whose payload is too short to allow parsing the Quarter Stream ID field MUST be treated as an HTTP/3 connection error of type H3_DATAGRAM_ERROR.¶
Endpoints MUST NOT send HTTP/3 datagrams unless the corresponding stream's send side is open. On a given endpoint, once the receive side of a stream is closed, incoming datagrams for this stream are no longer expected so the endpoint can release related state. Endpoints MAY keep state for a short time to account for reordering. Once the state is released, the endpoint MUST silently drop received associated datagrams.¶
If an HTTP/3 datagram is received and its Quarter Stream ID maps to a stream that has not yet been created, the receiver SHALL either drop that datagram silently or buffer it temporarily (on the order of a round trip) while awaiting the creation of the corresponding stream.¶
If an HTTP/3 datagram is received and its Quarter Stream ID maps to a stream that cannot be created due to client-initiated bidirectional stream limits, it SHOULD be treated as an HTTP/3 connection error of type H3_ID_ERROR. Generating an error is not mandatory in this case because HTTP/3 implementations might have practical barriers to determining the active stream concurrency limit that is applied by the QUIC layer.¶
HTTP/3 datagrams MUST only be sent with an association to a stream whose HTTP semantics explicitly supports HTTP Datagrams. For example, existing HTTP methods GET and POST do not define semantics for associated HTTP Datagrams; therefore, HTTP/3 datagrams cannot be sent associated with GET or POST request streams.¶
If an endpoint receives an HTTP/3 datagram associated with a method that has no known semantics for HTTP Datagrams, it MUST abort the corresponding stream with H3_DATAGRAM_ERROR. HTTP extensions can override these requirements by defining a negotiation mechanism and semantics for HTTP Datagrams.¶
Prioritization of HTTP/3 datagrams is not defined in this document. Future extensions MAY define how to prioritize datagrams, and MAY define signaling to allow endpoints to communicate their prioritization preferences.¶
Implementations of HTTP/3 that support HTTP Datagrams can indicate that to their peer by sending the H3_DATAGRAM SETTINGS parameter with a value of 1.¶
The value of the H3_DATAGRAM SETTINGS parameter MUST be either 0 or 1. A value of 0 indicates that HTTP Datagrams are not supported. An endpoint that receives the H3_DATAGRAM SETTINGS parameter with a value that is neither 0 or 1 MUST terminate the connection with error H3_SETTINGS_ERROR.¶
Endpoints MUST NOT send QUIC DATAGRAM frames until they have both sent and received the H3_DATAGRAM SETTINGS parameter with a value of 1.¶
When clients use 0-RTT, they MAY store the value of the server's H3_DATAGRAM SETTINGS parameter. Doing so allows the client to send QUIC DATAGRAM frames in 0-RTT packets. When servers decide to accept 0-RTT data, they MUST send a H3_DATAGRAM SETTINGS parameter greater than or equal to the value they sent to the client in the connection where they sent them the NewSessionTicket message. If a client stores the value of the H3_DATAGRAM SETTINGS parameter with their 0-RTT state, they MUST validate that the new value of the H3_DATAGRAM SETTINGS parameter sent by the server in the handshake is greater than or equal to the stored value; if not, the client MUST terminate the connection with error H3_SETTINGS_ERROR. In all cases, the maximum permitted value of the H3_DATAGRAM SETTINGS parameter is 1.¶
It is RECOMMENDED that implementations that support receiving HTTP Datagrams using QUIC always send the H3_DATAGRAM SETTINGS parameter with a value of 1, even if the application does not intend to use HTTP Datagrams. This helps to avoid "sticking out"; see Section 4.¶
[[RFC editor: please remove this section before publication.]]¶
Some revisions of this draft specification use a different value (the Identifier field of a Setting in the HTTP/3 SETTINGS frame) for the H3_DATAGRAM Settings Parameter. This allows new draft revisions to make incompatible changes. Multiple draft versions MAY be supported by either endpoint in a connection. Such endpoints MUST send multiple values for H3_DATAGRAM. Once an endpoint has sent and received SETTINGS, it MUST compute the intersection of the values it has sent and received, and then it MUST select and use the most recent draft version from the intersection set. This ensures that both endpoints negotiate the same draft version.¶
The DATAGRAM Capsule Type conveys a HTTP Datagram using the Capsule Protocol (see Section 3), primarily for the purpose of using HTTP Datagrams on versions of the protocol that do not support the HTTP/3 Datagram Format (see Section 2.1).¶
The payload of the datagram, whose semantics are defined by individual applications. Note that this field can be empty.¶
HTTP Datagrams sent using the DATAGRAM capsule have the same semantics as those sent in QUIC DATAGRAM frames. In particular, the restrictions on when it is allowed to send an HTTP Datagram and how to process them from Section 2.1 also apply to HTTP Datagrams sent and received using the DATAGRAM capsule.¶
An intermediary can reencode HTTP Datagrams as it forwards them. In other words, an intermediary MAY send a DATAGRAM capsule to forward an HTTP Datagram which was received in a QUIC DATAGRAM frame, and vice versa.¶
Note that while DATAGRAM capsules that are sent on a stream are reliably delivered in order, intermediaries can reencode DATAGRAM capsules into QUIC DATAGRAM frames when forwarding messages, which could result in loss or reordering.¶
If an intermediary receives an HTTP Datagram in a QUIC DATAGRAM frame and is forwarding it on a connection that supports QUIC DATAGRAM frames, the intermediary SHOULD NOT convert that HTTP Datagram to a DATAGRAM capsule. If the HTTP Datagram is too large to fit in a DATAGRAM frame (for example because the path MTU of that QUIC connection is too low or if the maximum UDP payload size advertised on that connection is too low), the intermediary SHOULD drop the HTTP Datagram instead of converting it to a DATAGRAM capsule. This preserves the end-to-end unreliability characteristic that methods such as Datagram Packetization Layer Path MTU Discovery (DPLPMTUD) depend on [DPLPMTUD]. An intermediary that converts QUIC DATAGRAM frames to DATAGRAM capsules allows HTTP Datagrams to be arbitrarily large without suffering any loss; this can misrepresent the true path properties, defeating methods such as DPLPMTUD.¶
While DATAGRAM capsules can theoretically carry a payload of length 262-1, most applications will have their own limits on what datagram payload sizes are practical. Implementations SHOULD take those limits into account when parsing DATAGRAM capsules: if an incoming DATAGRAM capsule has a length that is known to be so large as to not be usable, the implementation SHOULD discard the capsule without buffering its contents into memory.¶
The Capsule Protocol conveys a sequence of type-length-value tuples on a HTTP data stream (see Section 3.1), allowing endpoints to communicate end-to-end even in the presence of HTTP intermediaries. Its use can be negotiated through the HTTP Upgrade mechanism (see Section 16.7 of [HTTP]), or it can be invoked by an extension to the CONNECT method (for example, see Section 8.5 of [H2]).¶
Intermediaries can identify when the Capsule Protocol is in use by examining the Capsule-Protocol header field (Section 3.4) and the HTTP Upgrade token.¶
Because new protocols or extensions might define new capsule types, intermediaries that wish to allow for future extensibility SHOULD forward capsules without modification, unless the definition of the Capsule Type in use specifies additional intermediary processing. One such Capsule Type is the DATAGRAM capsule; see Section 2.2.¶
An intermediary MAY convert between DATAGRAM capsules and QUIC DATAGRAM frames when forwarding them.¶
Endpoints which receive a capsule with an unknown Capsule Type MUST silently drop that Capsule.¶
Per the definition of the data stream, the Capsule Protocol is not in use on a response that does not have a 2xx (Successful) status code.¶
The Capsule Protocol MUST NOT be used with messages that contain Content-Length, Content-Type, or Transfer-Encoding header fields. Additionally, HTTP status codes 204 (No Content), 205 (Reset Content), and 206 (Partial Content) MUST NOT be sent on responses that use the Capsule Protocol.¶
Data streams using the Capsule Protocol can be prioritized using any means suited to stream or request prioritization. For example, see Section 11 of [PRIORITY].¶
In the Capsule Protocol, the "data stream" of an HTTP request is the bidirectional stream of bytes that follows the header section of the request message and the final, successful (i.e., 2xx) response message.¶
In HTTP/1.x, the data stream consists of all bytes on the connection that follow the blank line that concludes either the request header section, or the s response header section. As a result, only a single HTTP request starting the capsule protocol can be sent on HTTP/1.x connections.¶
In HTTP/2 and HTTP/3, the data stream of a given HTTP request consists of all bytes sent in DATA frames with the corresponding stream ID.¶
The concept of a data stream is particularly relevant for methods such as CONNECT where there is no HTTP message content after the headers.¶
Note that use of the Capsule Protocol is not required to use HTTP Datagrams. If a new HTTP Upgrade Token is only defined over transports that support QUIC DATAGRAM frames, they might not need a stream encoding. Additionally, definitions of new HTTP Upgrade Tokens can use HTTP Datagrams with their own data stream protocol. However, new HTTP Upgrade Tokens that wish to use HTTP Datagrams SHOULD use the Capsule Protocol unless they have a good reason not to.¶
When a data stream uses the Capsule Protocol, data is conveyed uses this format (specified using the notation from the "Notational Conventions" section of [QUIC]):¶
A variable-length integer indicating the Type of the capsule. Recipients MUST silently skip over a capsule with an unknown Capsule Type.¶
The length of the Capsule Value field following this field, encoded as a variable-length integer. Note that this field can have a value of zero.¶
The payload of this capsule. Its semantics are determined by the value of the Capsule Type field.¶
When an error occurs in processing the capsule protocol, the receiver MUST treat the message as malformed or incomplete, according to the underlying transport protocol. For HTTP/3, the handling of malformed messages is described in Section 4.1.3 of [H3]. For HTTP/2, the handling of malformed messages is described in Section 8.1.1 of [H2]. For HTTP/1.1, the handling of incomplete messages is described in Section 8 of [H1].¶
Each capsule's payload MUST contain exactly the fields identified in its description. A capsule payload that contains additional bytes after the identified fields or a capsule payload that terminates before the end of the identified fields MUST be treated as a malformed or incomplete message. In particular, redundant length encodings MUST be verified to be self-consistent.¶
When a stream carrying capsules terminates cleanly, if the last capsule on the stream was truncated, this MUST be treated as a malformed or incomplete message.¶
The "Capsule-Protocol" header field is an Item Structured Field, see Section 3.3 of [STRUCT-FIELD]; its value MUST be a Boolean.¶
Endpoints indicate that the Capsule Protocol is in use on a data stream by sending a Capsule-Protocol header field with a value of ?1. A Capsule-Protocol header field with a value of ?0 has the same semantics as when the header is not present.¶
Intermediaries MAY use this header field to allow processing of HTTP Datagrams for unknown HTTP Upgrade Tokens; note that this is only possible for HTTP Upgrade or Extended CONNECT.¶
The Capsule-Protocol header field MUST NOT be sent multiple times on a message.¶
The Capsule-Protocol header field MUST NOT be used on HTTP responses with a status code different from 2xx (Successful). This specification does not define any parameters for the Capsule-Protocol header field value, but future documents MAY define parameters. Receivers MUST ignore unknown parameters.¶
Definitions of new HTTP Upgrade Tokens that use the Capsule Protocol MAY use the Capsule-Protocol header field to simplify intermediary processing.¶
Since transmitting HTTP Datagrams using QUIC DATAGRAM frames requires sending an HTTP/3 Settings parameter, it "sticks out". In other words, probing clients can learn whether a server supports HTTP Datagrams over QUIC DATAGRAM frames. As some servers might wish to obfuscate the fact that they offer application services that use HTTP datagrams, it's best for all implementations that support this feature to always send this Settings parameter, see Section 2.1.1.¶
Since use of the Capsule Protocol is restricted to new HTTP Upgrade Tokens, it is not accessible from Web Platform APIs (such as those commonly accessed via JavaScript in web browsers).¶
This document will request IANA to register the following entry in the "HTTP/3 Settings" registry:¶
This document will request IANA to register the following entry in the "HTTP/3 Error Codes" registry:¶
0x4A1268 (note that this will switch to a lower value before publication)¶
H3_DATAGRAM_ERROR¶
Datagram or capsule protocol parse error¶
provisional (permanent if this document is approved)¶
This Document¶
IETF¶
HTTP_WG; HTTP working group; ietf-http-wg@w3.org¶
This document will request IANA to register the following entry in the "HTTP Field Name" registry:¶
This document establishes a registry for HTTP capsule type codes. The "HTTP Capsule Types" registry governs a 62-bit space. Registrations in this registry MUST include the following fields:¶
A name or label for the capsule type.¶
The value of the Capsule Type field (see Section 3.2) is a 62-bit integer.¶
An optional reference to a specification for the type. This field MAY be empty.¶
Registrations follow the "First Come First Served" policy (see Section 4.4 of [IANA-POLICY]) where two registrations MUST NOT have the same Type.¶
This registry initially contains the following entry:¶
DATAGRAM¶
0xff37a5 (note that this will switch to a lower value before publication)¶
This document¶
Capsule types with a value of the form 41 * N + 23 for integer values of N are reserved to exercise the requirement that unknown capsule types be ignored. These capsules have no semantics and can carry arbitrary values. These values MUST NOT be assigned by IANA and MUST NOT appear in the listing of assigned values.¶
Portions of this document were previously part of the QUIC DATAGRAM frame definition itself, the authors would like to acknowledge the authors of that document and the members of the IETF MASQUE working group for their suggestions. Additionally, the authors would like to thank Martin Thomson for suggesting the use of an HTTP/3 SETTINGS parameter. Furthermore, the authors would like to thank Ben Schwartz for writing the first proposal that used two layers of indirection. The final design in this document came out of the HTTP Datagrams Design Team, whose members were Alan Frindell, Alex Chernyakhovsky, Ben Schwartz, Eric Rescorla, Marcus Ihlar, Martin Thomson, Mike Bishop, Tommy Pauly, Victor Vasiliev, and the authors of this document.¶