SIP-019 — Data Plane and Control Plane Separation

Go to Annex C: Requirements

The Reference Architecture SHALL separate the Data Plane from the Control Plane.

The Data Plane carries and processes operational structured information. The Control Plane distributes, selects, configures, and governs the Artifacts, Policies, constraints, and other control information that determine how operational processing occurs.

Separating these planes prevents Governance and configuration activities from becoming indistinguishable from operational information processing. It also supports independent security controls, lifecycle management, monitoring, deployment, and evolution for the two types of activity.

The Submission satisfies this requirement when the Reference Architecture:

1. Defines the responsibilities of the Data Plane
2. Defines the responsibilities of the Control Plane
3. Represents Data Plane and Control Plane elements or Roles separately
4. Distinguishes operational information flows from Governance and control flows
5. Defines the Interfaces and interactions between the two planes
6. Identifies how Control Plane actions affect Data Plane processing
7. Prevents operational Data from being treated implicitly as Governance or control information
8. Prevents control information from bypassing applicable Governance and security controls
9. Supports independent lifecycle management of operational flows and Governance Artifacts
10. Defines the separation independently of a required implementation topology or technology

Logical separation does not require the Data Plane and Control Plane to operate on physically separate infrastructure. A realization may use physical separation when required by its security, availability, performance, or Governance constraints.

SIP-023 — Governance Evolution and Operational Execution addresses the related separation between changes to Governance Artifacts and execution of the operational processing flow.