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Customizing DHCP Configuration on the Basis of Network Topology
draft-ietf-dhc-topo-conf-05

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Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 7969.
Authors Ted Lemon , Tomek Mrugalski
Last updated 2015-07-06
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draft-ietf-dhc-topo-conf-05
Network Working Group                                           T. Lemon
Internet-Draft                                             Nominum, Inc.
Intended status: Informational                              T. Mrugalski
Expires: January 7, 2016                                             ISC
                                                            July 6, 2015

    Customizing DHCP Configuration on the Basis of Network Topology
                      draft-ietf-dhc-topo-conf-05

Abstract

   DHCP servers have evolved over the years to provide significant
   functionality beyond that which is described in the DHCP base
   specifications.  One aspect of this functionality is support for
   context-specific configuration information.  This memo describes some
   such features and makes recommendations as to how they can be used.

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
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on January 7, 2016.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2015 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://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 Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of

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   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Identifying Client's Location by DHCP Servers . . . . . . . .   3
     3.1.  DHCPv4 Specific Behavior  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     3.2.  DHCPv6 Specific Behavior  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   4.  Simple Subnetted Network  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   5.  Relay agent running on a host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   6.  Cascade relays  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   7.  Regional Configuration Example  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   8.  Dynamic Lookup  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   9.  Multiple subnets on the same link . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
   10. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
   11. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
   12. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
   13. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
     13.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
     13.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17

1.  Introduction

   The DHCPv4 [RFC2131] and DHCPv6 [RFC3315] protocol specifications
   describe how addresses can be allocated to clients based on network
   topology information provided by the DHCP relay infrastructure.
   Address allocation decisions are integral to the allocation of
   addresses and prefixes in DHCP.

   The DHCP protocol also describes mechanisms for provisioning devices
   with additional configuration information; for example, DNS [RFC1034]
   server addresses, default DNS search domains, and similar
   information.

   Although it was the intent of the authors of these specifications
   that DHCP servers would provision devices with configuration
   information appropriate to each device's location on the network,
   this practice was never documented, much less described in detail.

   Existing DHCP server implementations do in fact provide such
   capabilities; the goal of this document is to describe those
   capabilities for the benefit both of operators and of protocol
   designers who may wish to use DHCP as a means for configuring their
   own services, but may not be aware of the capabilities provided by
   most modern DHCP servers.

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2.  Terminology

   o  Routable IP address: an IP address with a scope of use wider than
      the local link.

   o  PE router: provider edge router.  The provider router closest to
      the customer.

   o  CPE device: customer premise equipment device.  Typically a router
      belonging to the customer that connects directly to the provider
      link.

   o  Shared subnet: a case where two or more subnets of the same
      protocol family are available on the same link.  'Shared subnet'
      terminology is typically used in Unix environments.  It is
      typically called 'multinet' in Windows environment.  The
      administrative configuration inside a Microsoft DHCP server is
      called 'DHCP Superscope'.

3.  Identifying Client's Location by DHCP Servers

   Figure 1 illustrates a small hierarchy of network links with Link D
   serving as a backbone to which the DHCP server is attached.

   Figure 2 illustrates a more complex case.  Although some of its
   aspects are unlikely to be seen in an actual production networks,
   they are beneficial for explaining finer aspects of the DHCP
   protocols.  Note that some nodes act as routers (which forward all
   IPv6 traffic) and some are relay agents (i.e. run DHCPv6 specific
   software that forwards only DHCPv6 traffic).

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              Link A                   Link B
           |===+===========|    |===========+======|
               |                            |
               |                            |
           +---+---+                    +---+---+
           | relay |                    | relay |
           |   A   |                    |   B   |
           +---+---+                    +---+---+
               |                            |
               |       Link C               |
           |===+==========+=================+======|
                          |
                          |
                     +----+---+        +--------+
                     | router |        |  DHCP  |
                     |    A   |        | Server |
                     +----+---+        +----+---+
                          |                 |
                          |                 |
                          |   Link D        |
           |==============+=================+======|
                          |
                          |
                     +----+---+
                     | router |
                     |    B   |
                     +----+---+
                          |
                          |
           |===+==========+=================+======|
               |       Link E               |
               |                            |
           +---+---+                    +---+---+
           | relay |                    | relay |
           |   C   |                    |   D   |
           +---+---+                    +---+---+
               |                            |
               |                            |
           |===+===========|    |===========+======|
              Link F                   Link G

        Figure 1: A simple network with a small hierarchy of links

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              Link A                   Link B            Link H
           |===+==========|    |=========+======|  |======+======|
               |                         |                |
               |                         |                |
           +---+---+                 +---+---+        +---+---+
           | relay |                 | relay |        | relay |
           |   A   |                 |   B   |        |   G   |
           +---+---+                 +---+---+        +---+---+
               |                         |                |
               |       Link C            |                | Link J
           |===+==========+==============+======|  |======+======|
                          |                               |
                          |                               |
                     +----+---+        +--------+     +---+---+
                     | router |        |  DHCP  |     | relay |
                     |    A   |        | Server |     |   F   |
                     +----+---+        +----+---+     +---+---+
                          |                 |             |
                          |                 |             |
                          |   Link D        |             |
           |==============+=========+=======+=============+======|
                          |         |
                          |         |
                     +----+---+ +---+---+
                     | router | | relay |
                     |    B   | |   E   |
                     +----+---+ +---+---+
                          |         |
                          |         |
           |===+==========+=========+=======+======|
               |       Link E               |
               |                            |
           +---+---+                    +---+---+
           | relay |                    | relay |
           |   C   |                    |   D   |
           +---+---+                    +---+---+
               |                            |
               |                            |
           |===+===========|    |===========+======|
              Link F                   Link G

                         Figure 2: Complex network

   Those diagrams allow us to represent a variety of different network
   configurations and illustrate how existing DHCP servers can provide
   configuration information customized to the particular location from
   which a client is making its request.

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   It is important to understand the background of how DHCP works when
   considering those diagrams.  It is assumed that the DHCP clients may
   not have routable IP addresses when they are attempting to obtain
   configuration information.

   The reason for making this assumption is that one of the functions of
   DHCP is to bootstrap the DHCP client's IP address configuration; if
   the client does not yet have an IP address configured, it cannot
   route packets to an off-link DHCP server, therefore some kind of
   relay mechanism is required.

   The details of how packet delivery between clients and servers works
   are different between DHCPv4 and DHCPv6, but the essence is the same:
   whether or not the client actually has an IP configuration, it
   generally communicates with the DHCP server by sending its requests
   to a DHCP relay agent on the local link; this relay agent, which has
   a routable IP address, then forwards the DHCP requests to the DHCP
   server (directly or via other relays).  In later stages of the
   configuration when the client has aquired an address and certain
   conditions are met, it is possible for the client to send packets
   directly to the server, thus bypassing the relays.  The conditions
   for such behavior are different for DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 and are
   discussed in sections Section 3.1 and Section 3.2.

   The DHCP server uses an IP address from the client's message which is
   on the same link as the client to perform address assignment
   decisions or to select subnet-specific configuration for the client.
   The address that the server uses is the DHCP client's routable IP
   address or the client facing address of the relay agent.  The server
   is then able to determine the client's point of attachment and select
   appropriate subnet- or link-specific configuration.

   Sometimes it is useful for the relay agents to provide additional
   about the topology.  A number of extensions have been defined for
   this purpose.  The specifics are different, but the core principle
   remains the same: the relay agent knows exactly where the original
   request came from, so it provides an indentifier that will help the
   server to choose appropriate address pool and configuration
   parameters.  Examples of such options are mentioned in the following
   sections.

   Finally, clients may be connected to the same link as the server, so
   no relay agents are required.  In such cases, the DHCPv4 server
   typically uses the IPv4 address assigned to the network interface
   over which the transmission was received to select appropriate
   subnet.  This is more complicated for DHCPv6, as the DHCPv6 server is
   not required to have any globally unique addresses.  In such cases,
   an additional configuration information may be required.  Some

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   servers allow indicating that a given subnet is directly reachable
   over specific local network interface.

3.1.  DHCPv4 Specific Behavior

   In some cases in DHCPv4, when a DHCPv4 client has a routable IPv4
   address, the message is unicast to the DHCPv4 server rather than
   going through a relay agent.  Examples of such transmissions are
   renewal (DHCPREQUEST) and address release (DHCPRELEASE).

   The relay agent that receives client's message sets GIADDR field to
   the address of the network interface the message was received on.
   The relay agent may insert a relay agent option [RFC3046].

   There are several options defined that are useful for subnet
   selection in DHCPv4.  [RFC3527] defines Link Selection sub-option
   that is iserted by a relay agent.  This option is particularly useful
   when the relay agent needs to specify the subnet/link on which a DHCP
   client resides, which is different from an IP address that can be
   used to communicate with the relay agent.  Virtual Subnet Selection
   Option, specified in [RFC6607] is used for the same purpose (i.e.
   relay agents insert that information), but it also covers additional
   use cases in VPN environment.  In certain cases it is useful for the
   client itself to specify this option, e.g. when there are no relay
   agents involved during VPN set up process.

   Another option that may influence the subnet selection is IPv4 Subnet
   Selection Option, defined in [RFC3011], which allows the client to
   explicitly request allocation from a given subnet.

3.2.  DHCPv6 Specific Behavior

   In DHCPv6 unicast communication is possible in case where the server
   is configured with a Server Unicast option (see Section 22.12 in
   [RFC3315]) and clients are able to take advantage of it.  In such
   cases, once a client is assigned a, presumably global, address, it is
   able to contact the server directly, bypassing any relays.  It should
   be noted that such a mode is completely controllable by
   administrators in DHCPv6.  (They may simply choose to not configure
   server unicast option, thus forcing clients to send their messages
   always via relay agents in every case).

   In the DHCPv6 protocol, there are two core mechanisms defined in
   [RFC3315] that allow server to distinguish which link the relay agent
   is connected to.  The first mechanism is a link-address field in the
   Relay-forward and Relay-reply messages.  Somewhat contrary to its
   name, relay agents insert in the link-address field an address that
   is typically global and can be used to uniquely identify the link on

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   which the client is located.  In normal circumstances this is the
   solution that is easiest to maintain, as existing address assignments
   can be used and no additional administrative actions (like assigning
   dedicated identifers for each relay agent, making sure they are
   unique and maintaining a list of such identifiers) are needed.  It
   requires, however, for the relay agent to have an address with a
   scope larger than link-local configured on its client-facing
   interface.

   If for whatever reason that is not feasible (e.g. because the relay
   agent does not have a global address or ULA [RFC4193] configured on
   the client-facing interface), the relay agent includes an Interface-
   Id option (see Section 22.18 of [RFC3315]) that identifies the link
   clients are connected to.  If the interface-id is unique within an
   administrative domain, the interface-id value may be used to select
   the appropriate subnet.  As there is no guarantee for the uniqueness
   ([RFC3315] only mandates the interface-id to be unique within a
   single relay agent context), it is up to the administrator to check
   whether the relay agents deployed use unique interface-id values.  If
   they aren't, Interface-id cannot be used to determine client's point
   of attachment.

   It should be noted that Relay-forward and Relay-reply messages are
   exchanged between relays and servers only.  Clients are never exposed
   to those messages.  Also, servers never receive Relay-reply messages.
   Relay agents must be able to process both Relay-forward (sending
   already relayed message further towards the server, when there is
   more than one relay agent in a chain) and Relay-reply (when sending
   back the response towards the client, when there is more than one
   relay agent in a chain).

   For completeness, we also mention an uncommon, but valid case, where
   relay agents set link-local address in the link-address field in
   relayed Relay-forward messages.  This may happen if the relay agent
   doesn't have any address with a larger scope.  Even though link local
   addresses cannot be automatically used to associate relay agent with
   a given link, with sufficient information provided the server is
   still able to correctly select the proper link.  That requires the
   DHCP server software to be able to specify relay agent link-address
   or a feature similar to 'shared subnets' (see Section 9).  Network
   administrator has to manually configure additional information that a
   given subnet uses a relay agent with link-address X.  Alternatively,
   if the relay agent uses link address X and relays messages from a
   subnet A, an administrator can configure that subnet A is a shared
   subnet with a very small X/128 subnet.  That is not a recommended
   configuration, but in cases where it is impossible for relay agents
   to get an address from the subnet they are relaying from, it may be a
   viable solution.

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   DHCPv6 also has support for more finely grained link identification,
   using Lightweight DHCPv6 Relay Agents [RFC6221] (LDRA).  In this
   case, the link-address field is set to Unspecified_address (::), but
   the DHCPv6 server also receives an Interface-Id option from the relay
   agent that can be used to more precisely identify the client's
   location on the network.

   What this means in practice is that the DHCP server in all cases has
   sufficient information to pinpoint, at the very least, the layer 3
   link to which the client is connected, and in some cases which layer
   2 link the client is connected to, when the layer 3 link is
   aggregated out of multiple layer 2 links.

   In all cases, then, the DHCP server will have a link-identifying IP
   address, and in some cases it may also have a link-specific
   identifier (e.g.  Interface-Id Option or Link Address Option defined
   in Section 5 of [RFC6977]).  It should be noted that there the link-
   specific identifier is unique only within the scope of the link-
   identifying IP address.  For example, link-specific indentifier of
   "eth0" for a relay agent with IPv4 address 192.0.2.1 means something
   different than "eth0" for a relay agent with address 192.0.2.123.

   It is also possible for link-specific identifiers to be nested, so
   that the actual identifier that identifies the link is an aggregate
   of two or more link-specific identifiers sent by a set of LDRAs in a
   chain; in general this functions exactly as if a single identifier
   were received from a single LDRA, so we do not treat it specially in
   the discussion below, but sites that use chained LDRA configurations
   will need to be aware of this when configuring their DHCP servers.

   The Virtual Subnet Selection Options, present in DHCPv4, are also
   defined for DHCPv6.  The use case is the same as in DHCPv4: the relay
   agent inserts VSS options that can help the server to select the
   appropriate subnet with its address pool and associated configuration
   options.  See [RFC6607] for details.

4.  Simple Subnetted Network

   Consider Figure 1 in the context of a simple subnetted network.  In
   this network, there are four leaf subnets: links A, B, F and G, on
   which DHCP clients will be configured.  Relays A, B, C and D in this
   example are represented in the diagram as IP routers with an embedded
   relay function, because this is a very typical configuration, but the
   relay function can also be provided in a separate node on each link.

   In a simple network like this, there may be no need for link-specific
   configuration in DHCPv6, since local routing information is delivered
   through router advertisements.  However, in IPv4, it is very typical

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   to configure the default route using DHCP; in this case, the default
   route will be different on each link.  In order to accomplish this,
   the DHCP server will need link-specific configuration for the default
   route.

   To illustrate, we will use an example from a hypothetical DHCP server
   that uses a simple JSON notation [RFC7159] for configuration.
   Although we know of no DHCP server that uses this specific syntax,
   most modern DHCP server provides similar functionality.

   {
       "prefixes": {
           "192.0.2.0/26": {
               "options": {
                   "routers": ["192.0.2.1"]
               },
               "on-link": ["A"]
           },
           "192.0.2.64/26": {
               "options": {
                   "routers": ["192.0.2.65"]
               },
               "on-link": ["B"]
           },
           "192.0.2.128/26": {
               "options": {
                   "routers": ["192.0.2.129"]
               },
               "on-link": ["F"]
           },
           "192.0.2.192/26": {
               "options": {
                   "routers": ["192.0.2.193"]
               },
               "on-link": ["G"]
           }
       }
   }

                      Figure 3: Configuration example

   In Figure 3, we see a configuration example for this scenario: a set
   of prefixes, each of which has a set of options and a list of links
   for which it is on-link.  We have defined one option for each prefix:
   a routers option.  This option contains a list of values; each list
   only has one value, and that value is the IP address of the router
   specific to the prefix.

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   When the DHCP server receives a request, it searches the list of
   prefixes for one that encloses the link-identifying IP address
   provided by the client or relay agent.  The DHCP server then examines
   the options list associated with that prefix and returns those
   options to the client.

   So for example a client connected to link A in the example would have
   a link-identifying IP address within the 192.0.2.0/26 prefix, so the
   DHCP server would match it to that prefix.  Based on the
   configuration, the DHCP server would then return a routers option
   containing a single IP address: 192.0.2.1.  A client on link F would
   have a link-identifying address in the 192.0.2.128/26 prefix, and
   would receive a routers option containing the IP address 192.0.2.129.

5.  Relay agent running on a host

   A relay agent is a DHCP software that may be run on any IP node.
   Although it is typically run on a router, this is by no means
   required by the DHCP protocol.  The relay agent is simply a service
   that operates on a link, receiving link-local multicasts (IPv6) or
   broadcasts (IPv4) and relaying them, using IP routing, to a DHCP
   server.  As long as the relay has an IP address on the link, and a
   default route or more specific route through which it can reach a
   DHCP server, it need not be a router, or even have multiple
   interfaces.

   A relay agent can be run on a host connected to two links.  That case
   is presented in Figure 2.  There is router B that is connected to
   links D and E.  At the same time there is also a host that is
   connected to the same links.  The relay agent software is running on
   that host.  That is uncommon, but a valid configuration.

6.  Cascade relays

   Let's observe another case, shown in Figure 2.  Note that in this
   configuration, the clients connected to link G will send their
   requests to relay D which will forward its packets directly to the
   DHCP server.  That is typical, but not the only possible
   configuration.  It is possible to configure relay agent D to forward
   client messages to relay E which in turn will send it to the DHCP
   server.  This configuration is sometimes referred to as cascade relay
   agents.

   Note that the relaying mechanism works differently in DHCPv4 and in
   DHCPv6.  In DHCPv4 only the first relay is able to set the GIADDR
   field in the DHCPv4 packet.  Any following relays that receive that
   packet will not change it as the server needs GIADDR information from
   the first relay (i.e. the closest to the client).  The server will

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   send the response back to the GIADDR address, which is the address of
   the first relay agent that saw the client's message.  That means that
   the client messages travel on a different path than the server's
   responses.  A message from client connected to link G will travel via
   relay D, relay E and to the server.  A response message will be sent
   from the server to relay D via router B, and relay D will send it to
   the client on link G.

   Relaying in DHCPv6 is more structured.  Each relay agent encapsulates
   a packet that is destined to the server and sends it towards the
   server.  Depending on the configuration, that can be a server's
   unicast address, a multicast address or next relay agent address.
   The next relay repeats the encapsulation process.  Although the
   resulting packet is more complex (may have up to 32 levels of
   encapsulation if the packet traveled through 32 relays), every relay
   may insert its own options and it is clear which relay agent inserted
   which option.

7.  Regional Configuration Example

   In the Figure 2 example, link C is a regional backbone for an ISP.
   Link E is also a regional backbone for that ISP.  Relays A, B, C and
   D are PE routers, and Links A, B, F and G are actually link
   aggregators with individual layer 2 circuits to each customer--for
   example, the relays might be DSLAMs or cable head-end systems.  At
   each customer site we assume there is a single CPE device attached to
   the link.

   We further assume that links A, B, F and G are each addressed by a
   single prefix, although it would be equally valid for each CPE device
   to be numbered on a separate prefix.

   In a real-world deployment, there would likely be many more than two
   PE routers connected to each regional backbone; we have kept the
   number small for simplicity.

   In the example presented in Figure 4, the goal is to configure all
   the devices within a region with server addresses local to that
   region, so that service traffic does not have to be routed between
   regions unnecessarily.

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   {
       "prefixes": {
           "2001:db8:0:0::/40": {
               "on-link": ["A"]
           },
           "2001:db8:100:0::/40": {
               "on-link": ["B"]
           },
           "2001:db8:200:0::/40": {
               "on-link": ["F"]
           },
           "2001:db8:300:0::/40": {
               "on-link": ["G"]
           }
       },
       "links": {
           "A": {"region": "omashu"},
           "B": {"region": "omashu"},
           "F": {"region": "gaoling"},
           "G": {"region": "gaoling"}
       },
      "regions": {
          "omashu": {
              "options": {
                  "sip-servers": ["sip.omashu.example.org"],
                  "dns-servers": ["dns1.omashu.example.org",
                                  "dns2.omashu.example.org"]
              }
          },
          "gaoling": {
              "options": {
                  "sip-servers": ["sip.gaoling.example.org"],
                  "dns-servers": ["dns1.gaoling.example.org",
                                  "dns2.gaoling.example.org"]
              }
           }
       }
   }

                Figure 4: An example regions configuration

   In this example, when a request comes in to the DHCP server with a
   link-identifying IP address in the 2001:DB8:0:0::/40 prefix, it is
   identified as being on link A.  The DHCP server then looks on the
   list of links to see what region the client is in.  Link A is
   identified as being in omashu.  The DHCP server then looks up omashu
   in the set of regions, and discovers a list of region-specific
   options.

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   The DHCP server then resolves the domain names listed in the options
   and sends a sip-server option containing the IP addresses that the
   resolver returned for sip.omashu.example.org, and a dns-server option
   containing the IP addresses returned by the resolver for
   dns1.omashu.example.org and dns2.omashu.example.org.  Depending on
   the server capability and configuration, it may cache resolved
   responses for specific period of time, repeat queries every time or
   even keep the response until reconfiguration or shutdown.

   Similarly, if the DHCP server receives a request from a DHCP client
   where the link-identifying IP address is contained by the prefix
   2001:DB8:300:0::/40, then the DHCP server identifies the client as
   being connected to link G.  The DHCP server then identifies link G as
   being in the gaoling region, and returns the sip-servers and dns-
   servers options specific to that region.

   As with the previous example, the exact configuration syntax and
   structure shown above does not precisely match what existing DHCP
   servers do, but the behavior illustrated in this example can be
   accomplished with most existing modern DHCP servers.

8.  Dynamic Lookup

   In the Regional example, the configuration listed several domain
   names as values for the sip-servers and dns-servers options.  The
   wire format of both of these options contains one or more IPv6
   addresses--there is no way to return a domain name to the client.

   This was understood to be an issue when the original DHCP protocol
   was defined, and historical implementations even from the very early
   days would accept domain names and resolve them.  Some early DHCP
   implementations, particularly those based on earlier BOOTP
   implementations, had very limited capacity for reconfiguration.

   However, most modern DHCP servers handle name resolution by querying
   the resolver each time a DHCP packet comes in.  This means that if
   DHCP servers and DNS servers are managed by different administrative
   entities, there is no need for the administrators of the DHCP servers
   and DNS servers to communicate when changes are made.  When changes
   are made to the DNS server, these changes are promptly and
   automatically adopted by the DHCP server, as long as the DNS server
   is managed appropriately (see the next paragraph).  Similarly, when
   DHCP server configurations change, DNS server administrators need not
   be aware of this.

   It should be noted that even though the DHCP server may be configured
   to query the DNS resolver every time it uses configured names, the
   changes made in the DNS zone may not be visible to the server until

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   the DNS cache expires.  In general, it is the responsibility of the
   DNS zone's administrator to ensure that existing cache does not cause
   a trouble when a change is made to the zone; it should be usually
   reasonable for the DHCP server to rely on it.  However, if this is
   not desired or if the management of the DNS zone is not very
   reliable, the DHCP server can be configured to query the
   authoritative DNS server directly, bypassing any caching DNS servers.

   It is worth noting that DNS is not the only way to resolve names, and
   not all DHCP servers support other techniques (e.g., NIS+ or WINS).
   However, since these protocols have all but vanished from common use,
   this won't be an issue in new deployments.

9.  Multiple subnets on the same link

   There are scenarios where there is more than one subnet from the same
   protocol family (i.e. two or more IPv4 subnets or two or more IPv6
   subnets) configured on the same layer 3 link.  One example is a slow
   network renumbering where some services are migrated to the new
   addressing scheme, but some aren't yet.  Second example is a cable
   network, where cable modems and the devices connected behind them are
   connected to the same layer 2 link.  However, operators want the
   cable modems and user devices to get addresses from distinct address
   spaces, so users couldn't easily access their modems management
   interfaces.  Such a configuration is often referred to as 'shared
   subnets' in Unix environments or 'multinet' in Microsoft terminology.

   To support such a configuration, additional differentiating
   information is required.  Many DHCP server implementations offer a
   feature that is typically called client classification.  The server
   segregates incoming packets into one or more classes based on certain
   packet characteristics, e.g. presence or value of certain options or
   even a match between existing options.  Servers require additional
   information to handle such configuration, as they cannot use the
   topographical property of the relay addresses alone to properly
   choose a subnet.  Exact details of such operation is not part of the
   DHCPv4 or DHCPv6 protocols and is implementation dependent.

10.  Acknowledgments

   Thanks to Dave Thaler for suggesting that even though "everybody
   knows" how DHCP servers are deployed in the real world, it might be
   worthwhile to have an IETF document that explains what everybody
   knows, because in reality not everybody is an expert in how DHCP
   servers are administered.  Thanks to Andre Kostur, Carsten Strotmann,
   Simon Perreault, Jinmei Tatuya, Suresh Krishnan, Qi Sun, Jean-
   Francois Tremblay, Marcin Siodelski and Bernie Volz for their
   reviews, comments and feedback.

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11.  Security Considerations

   This document explains existing practice with respect to the use of
   Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol [RFC2131] and Dynamic Host
   Configuration Protocol Version 6 [RFC3315].  The security
   considerations for these protocols are described in their
   specifications and in related documents that extend these protocols.
   This document introduces no new functionality, and hence no new
   security considerations.

12.  IANA Considerations

   The IANA is hereby absolved of any requirement to take any action in
   relation to this document.

13.  References

13.1.  Normative References

   [RFC2131]  Droms, R., "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol", RFC
              2131, March 1997.

   [RFC3315]  Droms, R., Bound, J., Volz, B., Lemon, T., Perkins, C.,
              and M. Carney, "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for
              IPv6 (DHCPv6)", RFC 3315, July 2003.

13.2.  Informative References

   [RFC1034]  Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - concepts and facilities",
              STD 13, RFC 1034, November 1987.

   [RFC3011]  Waters, G., "The IPv4 Subnet Selection Option for DHCP",
              RFC 3011, November 2000.

   [RFC3046]  Patrick, M., "DHCP Relay Agent Information Option", RFC
              3046, January 2001.

   [RFC3527]  Kinnear, K., Stapp, M., Johnson, R., and J. Kumarasamy,
              "Link Selection sub-option for the Relay Agent Information
              Option for DHCPv4", RFC 3527, April 2003.

   [RFC4193]  Hinden, R. and B. Haberman, "Unique Local IPv6 Unicast
              Addresses", RFC 4193, October 2005.

   [RFC6221]  Miles, D., Ooghe, S., Dec, W., Krishnan, S., and A.
              Kavanagh, "Lightweight DHCPv6 Relay Agent", RFC 6221, May
              2011.

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   [RFC6607]  Kinnear, K., Johnson, R., and M. Stapp, "Virtual Subnet
              Selection Options for DHCPv4 and DHCPv6", RFC 6607, April
              2012.

   [RFC6977]  Boucadair, M. and X. Pougnard, "Triggering DHCPv6
              Reconfiguration from Relay Agents", RFC 6977, July 2013.

   [RFC7159]  Bray, T., "The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) Data
              Interchange Format", RFC 7159, March 2014.

Authors' Addresses

   Ted Lemon
   Nominum, Inc.
   2000 Seaport Blvd
   Redwood City, CA  94063
   USA

   Phone: +1-650-381-6000
   Email: Ted.Lemon@nominum.com

   Tomek Mrugalski
   Internet Systems Consortium, Inc.
   950 Charter Street
   Redwood City, CA  94063
   USA

   Phone: +1 650 423 1345
   Email: tomasz.mrugalski@gmail.com

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