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Rapid Commit Option for the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol version 4 (DHCPv4)
draft-ietf-dhc-rapid-commit-opt-05

The information below is for an old version of the document that is already published as an RFC.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 4039.
Authors Pyungsoo Kim , Bernie Volz , Soohong Daniel Park
Last updated 2015-10-14 (Latest revision 2004-06-28)
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Intended RFC status Proposed Standard
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IESG IESG state Became RFC 4039 (Proposed Standard)
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Responsible AD Margaret Cullen
Send notices to rdroms@cisco.com
draft-ietf-dhc-rapid-commit-opt-05
Network Working Group                                         S. Park 
  Internet-Draft                                                 P. Kim 
  June 25, 2004                                     Samsung Electronics 
                                                                B. Volz 
                                                          Cisco Systems 
   
   
                        Rapid Commit Option for DHCPv4 
                    draft-ietf-dhc-rapid-commit-opt-05.txt 
      
      
  Status of this Memo 
      
     By submitting this Internet-Draft, I certify that any applicable    
     patent or other IPR claims of which I am aware have been disclosed,   
     and any of which I become aware will be disclosed, in accordance 
     with RFC 3668. 
      
     Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering   
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     Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six 
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     The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at   
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     This Internet-Draft will expire on December 24, 2004. 
      
  Copyright Notice 
      
     Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved. 
      
      
  Abstract 
   
     This document defines a new DHCPv4 option, modeled on the DHCPv6      
     Rapid Commit option, for obtaining IP address and configuration      
     information using a 2-message exchange rather than the usual 4-
     message exchange, expediting client configuration. 
   

   
   
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  Table of Contents 
      
    1. Introduction..................................................2 
    2. Requirements..................................................3 
    3. Client/Server Operations......................................3 
    3.1 Detailed Flow................................................4 
    3.2 Administrative Considerations................................7 
    4. Rapid Commit Option Format....................................8 
    5. IANA Considerations...........................................8 
    6. Security Considerations.......................................8 
    7. References....................................................9 
    7.1 Normative References.........................................9 
    7.2 Informative References.......................................9 
    8. Authors' Addresses...........................................10 
    9. Acknowledgements.............................................10 
     
   
   
   
  1. Introduction 
      
     In some environments, such as those in which high mobility occurs      
     and the network attachment point changes frequently, it is benefical 
     to rapidly configure clients. And, in these environments it is 
     possible to more quickly configure clients because the protections 
     offered by the normal (and longer) 4-message exchange may not be 
     needed. The 4-message exchange allows for redundancy (multiple DHCP 
     servers) without wasting addresses, as addresses are only 
     provisionally assigned to a client until the client chooses and 
     requests one of the provisionally assigned addresses. The 2-message 
     exchange may therefore be used when only one server is present or 
     when addresses are plentiful and having multiple servers commit 
     addresses for a client is not a problem. 
            
     This document defines a new Rapid Commit option for DHCPv4, modeled 
     on the DHCPv6 Rapid Commit option [RFC3315], which can be used to 
     initiate a 2-message exchange to expedite client configuration in      
     some environments. A client advertises its support of this option     
     by sending it in DHCPDISCOVER messages. A server then determines     
     whether to allow the 2-message exchange based on its configuration      
     information and can either handle the DHCPDISCOVER as defined in      
     [RFC2131] or commit the client's configuration information and      
     advance to sending a DHCPACK message with the Rapid Commit option      
     as defined herein. 
      
      

   
   
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  2. Requirements 
      
     The keywords MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD, 
     SHOULD NOT, RECOMMENDED, MAY, and OPTIONAL, when they appear in this    
     document, are to be interpreted as described in [RFC 2119] 
      
      
  3. Client/Server Operations 
      
     If a client that supports the Rapid Commit option intends to use       
     the rapid commit capability, it includes a Rapid Commit option in       
     DHCPDISCOVER messages that it sends.  The client MUST NOT include      
     it in any other messages.  A client and server only use this option 
     when configured to do so. 
      
     A client that sent a DHCPDISCOVER with Rapid Commit option processes      
     responses as described in [RFC 2131].  However, if the client      
     receives a DHCPACK message with a Rapid Commit option, it SHOULD      
     process the DHCPACK immediately (without waiting for additional      
     DHCPOFFER or DHCPACK messages) and use the address and      
     configuration information contained therein.  
      
     A server that supports the Rapid Commit option MAY respond to a      
     DHCPDISCOVER message that included the Rapid Commit option with a      
     DHCPACK that includes the Rapid Commit option and fully committed      
     address and configuration information.  A server MUST NOT include      
     the Rapid Commit option in any other messages.  
            
     The Rapid Commit option MUST NOT appear in a Parameter Request      
     List option [RFC 2132]. 
      
     All other DHCP operations are as documented in [RFC 2131]. 
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      

   
   
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  3.1 Detailed Flow 
      
     The following is a revised Section 3.1 of [RFC 2131] that includes 
     handling of the Rapid Commit option. 
      
        1. The client broadcasts a DHCPDISCOVER message on its local 
           physical subnet.  If the client supports the Rapid Commit 
           option and intends to use the rapid commit capability, it 
           includes a Rapid Commit option in the DHCPDISCOVER message.  
           The DHCPDISCOVER message MAY include options that suggest 
           values for the network address and lease duration.  BOOTP 
           relay agents may pass the message on to DHCP servers not on 
           the same physical subnet. 
      
        2. Each server may respond with either a DHCPOFFER message or a 
           DHCPACK message with Rapid Commit option (the latter only if 
           the DHCPDISCOVER contained a Rapid Commit option and the 
           server's configuration policies allow use of Rapid Commit) 
           that includes an available network address in the 'yiaddr' 
           field (and other configuration parameters in DHCP options).  
           Servers sending a DHCPOFFER need not reserve the offered 
           network address, although the protocol will work more 
           efficiently if the server avoids allocating the offered 
           network address to another client.  Servers sending the 
           DHCPACK message commit the binding for the client to 
           persistent storage before sending the DHCPACK.  The 
           combination of 'client identifier' or 'chaddr' and assigned 
           network address constitute a unique identifier for the 
           client's lease and are used by both the client and server       
           to identify a lease referred to in any DHCP messages.  The       
           server transmits the DHCPOFFER or DHCPACK message to the 
           client, using the BOOTP relay agent if necessary. 
      
           When allocating a new address, servers SHOULD check that the     
           offered network address is not already in use; e.g., the 
           server may probe the offered address with an ICMP Echo Request. 
           Servers SHOULD be implemented so that network administrators 
           MAY choose to disable probes of newly allocated addresses. 
      
           Figure 3 in [RFC 2131] shows the flow for the normal 4-message 
           exchange. Figure 1 below shows the 2-message exchange. 
      
      
      
      
      
      
   
   
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                     Server          Client          Server 
                 (not selected)                    (selected) 
      
                       v               v               v 
                       |               |               | 
                       |     Begins initialization     | 
                       |               |               | 
                       | _____________/|\____________  | 
                       |/DHCPDISCOVER  | DHCPDISCOVER \| 
                       | w/Rapid Commit| w/Rapid Commit| 
                       |               |               | 
                   Determines          |          Determines 
                  configuration        |         configuration 
                       |               |     Commits configuration 
                       |       Collects replies        | 
                       |\              |  ____________/| 
                       | \________     | / DHCPACK     | 
                       | DHCPOFFER\    |/w/Rapid Commit| 
                       |  (discarded)  |               | 
                       |    Initialization complete    | 
                       |               |               | 
                       .               .               . 
                       .               .               . 
                       |               |               | 
                       |      Graceful shutdown        | 
                       |               |               | 
                       |               |\ ____________ | 
                       |               | DHCPRELEASE  \| 
                       |               |               | 
                       |               |        Discards lease 
                       |               |               | 
                       v               v               v 
      
          Figure 1: Timeline diagram when Rapid Commit used 
      
      
       3. The client receives one or more DHCPOFFER or DHCPACK (if Rapid 
          Commit option sent in DHCPDISCOVER) messages from one or more 
          servers.  If a DHCPACK (with Rapid Commit option) is received,     
          the client may immediately advance to step 5 below if the 
          offered configuration parameters are acceptable. The client may 
          choose to wait for multiple responses. The client chooses one 
          server from which to request or accept configuration parameters, 
          based on the configuration parameters offered in the DHCPOFFER 
          and DHCPACK messages.  If the client chooses a DHCPACK, it 
          advances to step 5. Otherwise, the client broadcasts a 
          DHCPREQUEST message that MUST include the 'server identifier' 
   
   
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          option to indicate which server it has selected, and that MAY 
          include other options specifying desired configuration values.  
          The 'requested IP address' option MUST be set to the value of 
          'yiaddr' in the DHCPOFFER message from the server.  This 
          DHCPREQUEST message is broadcast and relayed through DHCP/BOOTP 
          relay agents.  To help ensure that any BOOTP relay agents 
          forward the DHCPREQUEST message to the same set of DHCP servers 
          that received the original DHCPDISCOVER message, the 
          DHCPREQUEST message MUST use the same value in the DHCP message 
          header's 'secs' field and be sent to the same IP broadcast 
          address as the original DHCPDISCOVER message.  The client times 
          out and retransmits the DHCPDISCOVER message if the client 
          receives no DHCPOFFER messages. 
      
       4. The servers receive the DHCPREQUEST broadcast from the client. 
          Those servers not selected by the DHCPREQUEST message use the 
          message as notification that the client has declined that 
          server's offer.  The server selected in the DHCPREQUEST message 
          commits the binding for the client to persistent storage and 
          responds with a DHCPACK message containing the configuration 
          parameters for the requesting client.  The combination of 
          'client identifier' or 'chaddr' and assigned network address 
          constitute a unique identifier for the client's lease and are 
          used by both the client and server to identify a lease referred 
          to in any DHCP messages.  Any configuration parameters in the 
          DHCPACK message SHOULD NOT conflict with those in the earlier 
          DHCPOFFER message to which the client is responding.  The 
          server SHOULD NOT check the offered network address at this 
          point. The 'yiaddr' field in the DHCPACK messages is filled in 
          with the selected network address. 
      
          If the selected server is unable to satisfy the DHCPREQUEST 
          message (e.g., the requested network address has been 
          allocated), the server SHOULD respond with a DHCPNAK message. 
      
          A server MAY choose to mark addresses offered to clients in 
          DHCPOFFER messages as unavailable.  The server SHOULD mark an 
          address offered to a client in a DHCPOFFER message as available 
          if the server receives no DHCPREQUEST message from that client. 
      
       5. The client receives the DHCPACK message with configuration 
          parameters.  The client SHOULD perform a final check on the   
          parameters (e.g., ARP for allocated network address), and notes 
          the duration of the lease specified in the DHCPACK message.  At 
          this point, the client is configured.  If the client detects 
          that the address is already in use (e.g., through the use of 
          ARP), the client MUST send a DHCPDECLINE message to the server 
   
   
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          and restarts the configuration process.  The client SHOULD wait 
          a minimum of ten seconds before restarting the configuration 
          process to avoid excessive network traffic in case of looping. 
      
          If the client receives a DHCPNAK message, the client restarts 
          the configuration process. 
      
          The client times out and retransmits the DHCPREQUEST message if 
          the client receives neither a DHCPACK nor a DHCPNAK message.  
          The client retransmits the DHCPREQUEST according to the 
          retransmission algorithm in section 4.1 of [RFC 2131].  The 
          client should choose to retransmit the DHCPREQUEST enough times 
          to give adequate probability of contacting the server without 
          causing the client (and the user of that client) to wait overly 
          long before giving up; e.g., a client retransmitting as 
          described in section 4.1 of [RFC 2131] might retransmit the 
          DHCPREQUEST message four times, for a total delay of 60 seconds, 
          before restarting the initialization procedure.  If the client 
          receives neither a DHCPACK nor a DHCPNAK message after 
          employing the retransmission algorithm, the client reverts to 
          INIT state and restarts the initialization process.  The client 
          SHOULD notify the user that the initialization process has 
          failed and is restarting. 
      
       6. The client may choose to relinquish its lease on a network 
          address by sending a DHCPRELEASE message to the server.  The 
          client identifies the lease to be released with its 'client 
          identifier', or 'chaddr' and network address in the DHCPRELEASE 
          message. If the client used a 'client identifier' when it 
          obtained the lease, it MUST use the same 'client identifier' in 
          the DHCPRELEASE message. 
      
      
  3.2 Administrative Considerations 
      
     Network administrators MUST only enable the use of Rapid Commit on a 
     DHCP server if one of the following conditions is met: 
      
       1. The server is the only server for the subnet. 
      
       2. When multiple servers are present, they may each commit a 
          binding for all clients and therefore each server must have 
          sufficient addresses available. 
      
          A server MAY allow configuration for a different (likely 
          shorter) initial lease time for addresses assigned when Rapid 

   
   
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          Commit is used to expedite reclaiming addresses not used by 
          clients. 
      
      
  4. Rapid Commit Option Format 
      
     The Rapid Commit option is used to signal the use of the two message 
     exchange for address assignment.  The code for the Rapid Commit 
     Option has to be defined (TBD). The format of the option is: 
            
            
            Code  Len     
          +-----+-----+  
          | TBD |  0  |  
          +-----+-----+  
            
            
          A client MUST include this option in a DHCPDISCOVER message if 
          the client is prepared to perform the DHCPDISCOVER-DHCPACK 
          message exchange described earlier.  
            
          A server MUST include this option in a DHCPACK message sent in  
          a response to a DHCPDISCOVER message when completing the 
          DHCPDISCOVER-DHCPACK message exchange.  
            
            
  5. IANA Considerations 
      
     IANA is requested to assign a value for the Rapid Commit option code 
     in accordance with [RFC 2939]. 
      
      
  6. Security Considerations 
      
     The concepts in this document do not significantly alter the 
     security considerations for DHCP (see [RFC 2131] and [RFC 3118]). 
     However, use of this option could expedite denial of service attacks 
     by allowing a mischievous client to more rapidly consume all 
     available addresses or to do so without requiring two-way 
     communication (as injecting DHCPDISCOVER messages with the Rapid 
     Commit option is sufficient to cause a server to allocate an 
     address). 
      
      
      
      
      
   
   
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  7. References 
   
  7.1 Normative References 
      
     [RFC 2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate 
                 Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.  
            
     [RFC 2131]  R. Droms, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, RFC 2131, 
                 March 1997.  
       
       
  7.2 Informative References 
                  
     [RFC 2132]  Alexander, S. and Droms, R., "DHCP Options and BOOTP  
                 Vendor Extensions," RFC 2132, March 1997.  
      
     [RFC 2939]  R. Droms, Procedures and IANA Guidelines for Definition 
                 of New DHCP Options and Message Types, RFC 2939,  
                 September 2000. 
      
     [RFC 3118]  R. Droms and W. Arbaugh, Authentication for DHCP 
                 Messages, RFC 3118, June 2001. 
      
     [RFC 3315]  R. Droms, et. al., Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol 
                 for IPv6, RFC 3315, July 2003.  
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
   
   
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  8. Authors' Addresses 
      
     Soohong Daniel Park 
     Mobile Platform Laboratory 
     Samsung Electronics 
     416, Maetan-3dong, Yeongtong-Gu 
     Suwon, Korea 
      
     Phone: +82-31-200-4508 
     EMail: soohong.park@samsung.com 
      
      
     Pyungsoo Kim  
     Mobile Platform Laboratory 
     Samsung Electronics 
     416, Maetan-3dong, Yeongtong-Gu 
     Suwon, Korea 
      
     Phone: +82-31-200-4635 
     Email: kimps@samsung.com 
      
      
     Bernie Volz 
     Cisco Systems, Inc. 
     1414 Massachusette Ave. 
     Boxborough, MA 01719 
     USA 
      
     Phone:  +1-978-936-0382 
     EMail:  volz@cisco.com 
      
      
  9. Acknowledgements 
      
     Special thanks to Ted Lemon and Andre Kostur for their many      
     valuable comments.  Thanks to Ralph Droms for his review comments 
     during WGLC.  Thanks to Youngkeun Kim for his support on this work. 
      
     Particularly, authors would like to acknowledge the implementation 
     contributions by Minho Lee of Samsung Electronics. 
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
   
   
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