



Network Working Group                                             J. Mao
Internet-Draft                                                   G. Zeng
Intended status: Standards Track                                  B. Liu
Expires: 5 May 2026                                              N. Geng
                                                                X. Shang
                                                                  Q. Gao
                                                                   Z. Li
                                                     Huawei Technologies
                                                         1 November 2025


 Cross-device Communication Framework for AI Agents in Network Devices
         draft-mzsg-rtgwg-agent-cross-device-comm-framework-01

Abstract

   With the development of large language models (LLM), AI Agent
   software continues to emerge.  AI agents deployed on different
   network devices need to collaborate to accomplish some complex tasks,
   such as network measurement and network troubleshooting.  This
   collaboration requires cross-device communication between AI agents.

   This document proposes a cross-device communication framework for AI
   agents in network devices, and analyzes the requirements for the
   communication protocol.

Status of This Memo

   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
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   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 5 May 2026.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2025 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.




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   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.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Framework and Key Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   5.  Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     5.1.  Requirements for AI Agent in Network Devices  . . . . . .   6
     5.2.  Requirements for Agent Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     5.3.  Requirements for Security schema  . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   6.  Illustration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     6.1.  Using A2A as the communication protocol . . . . . . . . .   7
     6.2.  Using MCP as the communication protocol . . . . . . . . .   7
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   8.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8

1.  Introduction

   With the development of large language models (LLM), AI Agent
   software continues to emerge.  They have played a significant role in
   enhancing work and production efficiency.  Deploying AI Agents on
   network devices will be the next beneficial attempt.

   AI agents deployed on different network devices need to collaborate
   to accomplish more complex tasks, especially those that span multiple
   devices and involve network-level operations.  For example, this can
   help us perform better in areas such as network
   measurement[I-D.zeng-mcp-network-measurement] and network
   troubleshooting[I-D.zeng-mcp-troubleshooting].

   This collaboration requires communication between AI agents, so this
   document proposes a cross-device communication framework for AI
   agents in network devices, and analyzes the requirements for the
   communication protocol.




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   In this framework, the agents that communicate with each other are
   peers, capable of using synchronous and asynchronous communication
   methods, and support both structured and unstructured messages.

2.  Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
   14 RFC 2119 [RFC2119] RFC 8174 [RFC8174] when, and only when, they
   appear in all capitals, as shown here.

3.  Terminology

   A2A: Agent2Agent Protocol

   MCP: Model Context Protocol

4.  Framework and Key Components


   The figure below shows the communication framework, including three
   network devices A~C, with some AI agents deployed on each device.




























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                                              Device B
                                             +-------------------------+
                                             |   +------------------+  |
                                   /---------+-->|Integrated Agent 1|  |
                                   |         |   +------------------+  |
                                   |         |   +------------------+  |
                                   | /-------+-->|Integrated Agent 2|  |
                                   | |       |   +------------------+  |
                                   | |       |                         |
  Device A                         | |       +-------------------------+
 +-------------------------+       | |
 | +-------------------+ --+-------/ |
 | |Communication Agent| --+---------/  communicate using Agent Protocol
 | +++-----------------+ --+-------\
 |  ||  +--------------+   |       |
 |  ||->|Worker Agent 1|   |       |           Device C
 |  |   +--------------+   |       |         +-------------------------+
 |  |   +--------------+   |       |         |   +-------------------+ |
 |  |-->|Worker Agent 2|   |       \---------+-->|Communication Agent| |
 |      +--------------+   |                 |   +++-----------------+ |
 +-------------------------+                 |    ||  +--------------+ |
                                             |    ||->|Worker Agent 1| |
                                             |    |   +--------------+ |
                                             |    |   +--------------+ |
                                             |    |-->|Worker Agent 2| |
                                             |        +--------------+ |
                                             +-------------------------+

Figure 1: Cross-device Communication Framework for AI Agents in Network Devices

   Agents on network devices are categorized into three types:
   Communication Agent, Worker Agent, and Integrated Agent.

   *  Communication Agent: Responsible for the intelligent agent
      communication of this network device with external systems.  It
      aggregates the capabilities of all local Worker Agents to generate
      the overall capability of the network device for external
      representation.  It receives cross-device access requests from
      Worker Agents and uses the Agent protocol to communicate with
      Communication Agents on other devices.  It also manages
      asynchronous or long-term tasks.










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   *  Worker Agent: It performs specific functions for a particular set
      of tasks locally, such as network measurement and troubleshooting.
      It does not handle AI agent communication across devices.  Worker
      Agents on different devices do not communicate with each other.
      Within a device, Worker Agents can communicate with each other or
      with the Communication Agent using either the Agent protocol or
      custom methods.  This document does not impose any restrictions on
      the communication methods.

   *  Integrated Agent: Possesses both the functions of Worker Agent and
      Communication Agent.  It has the capability to perform specific
      tasks and communicate with other agents.


   The Communication Agents on each device have a peer relationship with
   each other.  Based on the invocation relationship during a single
   communication, they can be further categorized into two roles: Client
   Agent and Server Agent.

   *  Client Agent: Constructs task requirements into request messages
      and sends them to the Server Agent via the Agent Protocol.  It
      waits for the Server Agent to return a response message.  The task
      result is obtained by parsing the response message, or recording
      the task ID in the response message returned by the Server Agent
      and retrieving the task result from the Server Agent by the task
      ID later.

   *  Server Agent: In terms of capability discovery, it constructs the
      capabilities of AI agents in the device into capability
      negotiation messages and sends them to the Client Agent via the
      Agent Protocol.  For processing task requests, it receives request
      messages from the Client Agent through the Agent Protocol.  For
      short-term tasks, after completing the task, it constructs the
      task result into a response message.  For long-term tasks, it
      generates a task ID and constructs the task ID into a response
      message.  The response message is then sent to the Client Agent
      via the Agent Protocol.  When a long-term task is completed, the
      task result is cached, and the Server Agent waits for the Client
      Agent to retrieve the task result using the task ID.


   The cross-device communication protocol between AI agents in network
   devices is referred as Agent Protocol.








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   *  Agent Protocol: The communication protocol between agents on two
      devices, which includes functions such as capability discovery and
      negotiation, task assignment and result collection,
      authentication, and secure communication.  For example, emerging
      protocols like A2A or MCP, or mature protocols like NETCONF/YANG,
      can be used.


5.  Requirements


5.1.  Requirements for AI Agent in Network Devices

   TBD

5.2.  Requirements for Agent Protocol


   The communication protocol between AI agents in network devices is
   referred as Agent Protocol.  There are some requirements for it.

   [REQ 2-1a] Agent Protocol MUST support synchronous request/response
   interaction.

   [REQ 2-1b] Agent Protocol SHOULD support streaming interaction for
   better experience in some man-machine interaction scenarios.

   [REQ 2-1c] Agent Protocol MUST support to response task id
   immediately and acquire the result by task id later.

   [REQ 2-1d] Agent Protocol SHOULD support bidirectional interaction
   for the scenarios where Server Agent asks for more information from
   Client Agent.

   [REQ 2-1e] Agent Protocol MUST support to exchange structured
   messages, such as message in JSON or Protobuf format.

   [REQ 2-1f] Agent Protocol SHOULD support to exchange unstructured
   messages, such as natural language.

   [REQ 2-1g] TBD

5.3.  Requirements for Security schema

   TBD






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6.  Illustration


6.1.  Using A2A as the communication protocol

   TBD

6.2.  Using MCP as the communication protocol

   TBD

7.  IANA Considerations

   TBD

8.  Security Considerations

   TBD


9.  References

9.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC8126]  Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for
              Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26,
              RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

9.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.zeng-mcp-network-measurement]
              Zeng, G. and J. Mao, "MCP-based Network Measurement
              Framework: Using Model Context Protocol for Intelligent
              Network Measurement", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft,
              draft-zeng-mcp-network-measurement-00, 20 October 2025,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-zeng-mcp-
              network-measurement-00>.




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   [I-D.zeng-mcp-troubleshooting]
              Zeng, G. and J. Mao, "Using the Model Context Protocol
              (MCP) for Intent-Based Network Troubleshooting
              Automation", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-zeng-
              mcp-troubleshooting-00, 20 October 2025,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-zeng-mcp-
              troubleshooting-00>.

Authors' Addresses

   Jianwei Mao
   Huawei Technologies
   Beijing
   100095
   China
   Email: MaoJianwei@huawei.com


   Guanming Zeng
   Huawei Technologies
   Email: zengguanming@huawei.com


   Bing Liu
   Huawei Technologies
   Email: leo.liubing@huawei.com


   Nan Geng
   Huawei Technologies
   Email: gengnan@huawei.com


   Xiaotong Shang
   Huawei Technologies
   Email: shangxiaotong@huawei.com


   Qiangzhou Gao
   Huawei Technologies
   Email: gaoqiangzhou@huawei.com


   Zhenbin Li
   Huawei Technologies
   Email: robinli314@163.com





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