The Common Open Policy Service (COPS) Protocol is part of the internet protocol suite as defined by the IETF's RFC 2748. COPS specifies a simple client/server model for supporting policy control over Quality of Service (QoS) signaling protocols (e.g. RSVP). Policies are stored on servers, and acted upon by Policy Decision Points (PDP), and are enforced on clients, also known as Policy Enforcement Points (PEP). There are two models of COPS: The Outsourcing Model and the Provisioning Model, considered from the view of the client or PEP.
The Outsourcing Model is the simplest COPS implementation. In this model, all policies are stored at the PDP. Whenever the PEP needs to make a decision, it sends all relevant information to the PDP. The PDP analyzes the information, makes the decision, and relays it to the PEP. The PEP then simply enforces the decision.
In the Provisioning Model, see RFC 3084 COPS Usage for Policy Provisioning (COPS-PR), the PEP reports its decision-making capabilities to the PDP. The PDP then downloads relevant policies on to the PEP. The PEP can then make its own decisions based on these policies. The Provisioning Model uses the Policy Information Base as a repository of the policies.
The COPS-MAID Internet Draft introduces QoS extensions to the protocol for Multi-Access environment.
See for links to some COPS implementations.
See for open source COPS client.
Famous quotes containing the words common, open, policy and/or service:
“Words convey the mental treasures of one period to the generations that follow; and laden with this, their precious freight, they sail safely across gulfs of time in which empires have suffered shipwreck and the languages of common life have sunk into oblivion.”
—Anonymous. Quoted in Richard Chevenix Trench, On the Study of Words, lecture 1 (1858)
“A man’s most open actions have a secret side to them.”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)
“A country survives its legislation. That truth should not comfort the conservative nor depress the radical. For it means that public policy can enlarge its scope and increase its audacity, can try big experiments without trembling too much over the result. This nation could enter upon the most radical experiments and could afford to fail in them.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“For those parents from lower-class and minority communities ... [who] have had minimal experience in negotiating dominant, external institutions or have had negative and hostile contact with social service agencies, their initial approaches to the school are often overwhelming and difficult. Not only does the school feel like an alien environment with incomprehensible norms and structures, but the families often do not feel entitled to make demands or force disagreements.”
—Sara Lawrence Lightfoot (20th century)