Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6) Relay Agent Remote-ID Option
draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-remoteid-01

[Note]: '3/20/06:  Waiting for indication from Bernie Volz about whether he wants to fix the lowercase "may"s based on Bert''s remaining comments.' added by Margaret Wasserman

[Ballot comment]
I support Bert's DISCUSS:

Why does the DHC working group not standarize an option for for example:

a "caller ID" telephone number for dial-up connection

It is very hard to make something 'globally unique' if you don't know what it is exactly.

[Ballot discuss]
Looking at section 3:

  3.  The Relay Agent Remote-ID Option

  This option MAY be added by DHCPv6 relay agents which terminate
  switched or permanent circuits and have mechanisms to identify the
  remote host end of the circuit.  The remote-id field MAY be used to
  encode, for instance:

  o  a "caller ID" telephone number for dial-up connection
  o  a "user name" prompted for by a Remote Access Server
  o  a remote caller ATM address
  o  a "modem ID" of a cable data modem
  o  the remote IP address of a point-to-point link
  o  a remote X.25 address for X.25 connections
  o  an interface identity, which might be the switch's DUID [1]
      suffixed by the interface-id from the DHCPv6 Interface-Id option.

  The remote ID MUST be globally unique.

Then I wonder:
- the option MAY be added. So one cannot assume it will be added by anyone
- the option MAY be used for many things, but one never knows if/how
  the server is going to use it
- the "remote ID MUST be globally unique", yet it can be as short as 1
  octet. How is that "global uniqueness" guaranteed/administered?

The doc is targeted for standards track.
But what/how does this option do to help STANDARDIZE any DHCP(v6)
behaviour?

Or am I just confused?

[Ballot discuss]
The security considerations section does not appear to discuss the
potential problems associated with trusting the remote ID.  For
example, spoofing caller ID information is relativly easy; if DHCP
selected which network to put a subscriber on based on caller id, then
this might be subject to abuse.  I'm not asking for a prohibition of
such uses simply a discussion of the implications.

IANA Comments:
Upon approval of this document the IANA will assign a DHCPv6 option code for the Relay Agent Remote-ID Option in the following registry:
http://www.iana.org/assignments/dhcpv6-parameters