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The DHCPv6 Option for IPv6 Neighbor Discovery
draft-templin-6man-dhcpv6-ndopt-00

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Author Fred Templin
Last updated 2017-11-20
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draft-templin-6man-dhcpv6-ndopt-00
Network Working Group                                    F. Templin, Ed.
Internet-Draft                              Boeing Research & Technology
Intended status: Informational                         November 20, 2017
Expires: May 24, 2018

             The DHCPv6 Option for IPv6 Neighbor Discovery
                 draft-templin-6man-dhcpv6-ndopt-00.txt

Abstract

   IPv6 Neighbor Discovery (IPv6ND) specifies a control message set for
   nodes to discover neighbors, routers, prefixes and other services on
   the link.  It also supports a manner of StateLess Address
   AutoConfiguration (SLAAC).  The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
   for IPv6 (DHCPv6) specifies a service for the stateful delegation of
   addresses and prefixes.

   Currently, at least two round-trip message exchanges are necessary in
   order to perform the IPv6ND router discovery and DHCPv6 address/
   prefix delegation functions.  This document presents a protocol for
   combining these two round trips into a single round trip by joining
   the two services into a single unified service.

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 May 24, 2018.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2017 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

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   (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 Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  The DHCPv6 Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  DHCPv6 Option Usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Implementation Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   6.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   7.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   8.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     8.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     8.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6

1.  Introduction

   IPv6 Neighbor Discovery (IPv6ND) [RFC4861] specifies a control
   message set for nodes to discover neighbors, routers, prefixes and
   other services on the link.  It also supports a manner of StateLess
   Address AutoConfiguration (SLAAC).  The Dynamic Host Configuration
   Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6) specifies a service for the stateful
   delegation of addresses and prefixes [RFC3315][RFC3633].

   Currently, at least two round-trip message exchanges are necessary in
   order to perform the IPv6ND router discovery and DHCPv6 address/
   prefix delegation functions.  This document presents a protocol for
   combining these two round trips into a single round trip by joining
   the two services into a single unified service.

   When a node first comes onto the link, it sends a Router Solicitation
   (RS) message to elicit a Router Advertisement (RA) message from one
   or more routers for the link.  If the node also needs to acquire
   managed addresses and prefixes (and, if the 'M' bit is set in the RA
   message) it then sends a DHCPv6 Solicit message to elicit a Reply
   message from a DHCPv6 server that is authoritative for the link
   (assuming DHCPv6 Rapid Commit).  This two round-trip message exchange
   can add delay as well as waste critical link bandwidth on low-end
   links (e.g., VHF wireless).

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   This document proposes a new IPv6 ND option called the "DHCPv6
   Option" that marries the IPv6 ND router discovery and DHCPv6 managed
   address/prefix acquisition processes into a single round trip message
   exchange.  Nodes include the DHCPv6 option in RS messages to solicit
   an RA message with a DHCPv6 option in return.  This allows the IPv6
   ND and DHCPv6 functions to work together to supply the client with
   all needed configuration information in a single message exchange
   instead of multiple.

   The following sections present considerations for nodes that employ
   the IPv6 ND DHCPv6 option.

2.  The DHCPv6 Option

   The DHCPv6 option is a new IPv6 ND option that simply embeds a
   standard DHCPv6 message per section 6 of [RFC3315], beginning with
   the msg-type followed by the transaction-id and all DHCPv6 options.
   The format of the option is as follows:

        0                   1                   2                   3
        0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |  Type = TBD   |    Length     |          Reserved             |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |    msg-type   |               transaction-id                  |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
       |                                                               |
       .                            options                            .
       .                           (variable)                          .
       |                                                               |
       +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                  Figure 1: IPv6 ND DHCPv6 Option Format

   In this format, Type and Length are exactly as defined in Section 4.6
   of [RFC4861], a two-octet Reserved field is included for alignment
   and potential future use, and the rest of the option is exactly as
   defined in Section 6 of [RFC3315] (in the above, the field labeled
   "options" refers to DHCPv6 options, i.e., and not additional IPv6 ND
   options).  The length of the full DHCPv6 message itself is determined
   by the Length field in the IPv6 ND option header.

3.  DHCPv6 Option Usage

   When a node first comes onto the link, it creates a Router
   Solicitation (RS) message containing a DHCPv6 option that embeds a
   DHCPv6 Solicit message.  The node then sends the RS message either to

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   the unicast address of a specific router on the link, or to the All-
   Routers multicast address.

   When a router receives an RS message with a DHCPv6 option, if it does
   not recognize the option and/or does not employ a DHCPv6 relay agent
   or server, it returns a Router Advertisement (RA) message as normal
   and without including a DHCPv6 option.  By receiving the RA message
   with no DHCPv6 option, the node can determine that router does not
   recognize the option an/or does not support a DHCPv6 relay/server
   function.  In this way, no harm will have come from the node
   including the DHCPv6 option in the RS, and the function is fully
   backwards compatible.

   When a router receives an RS message with a DHCPv6 option, if it
   recognizes the option and employs a DHCPv6 relay agent or server, it
   extracts the DHCPv6 message from the RS message and forwards the
   message to the DHCPv6 relay agent or server.  When the DHCPv6 message
   reaches a DHCPv6 server, the server processes the DHCPv6 Solicit
   message and prepares a DHCPv6 Reply message containing any delegated
   addresses, prefixes and/or any other information the server is
   configured to send.  The server then returns the Reply message to the
   router.

   When the router receives the DHCPv6 Reply message, it creates a
   Router Advertisement (RA) message that includes any autoconfiguration
   information necessary for the link and also embeds the Reply message
   in a DHCPv6 option within the body of the RA.  The router then
   returns the RA as a unicast message reply to the node that sent the
   RS.

   At any time after the initial RS/RA exchange, the node may need to
   issue a DHCPv6 Renew, Release or Rebind message, e.g., to extend
   address/prefix lifetimes.  In that case, the node prepares a DHCPv6
   message option and inserts it in an RS message which it then sends
   via unicast to the router.  The router in turn processes the message
   the same as for DHCPv6 Solicit/Reply.

   At any time after the initial RS/RA exchange, the DHCPv6 server may
   need to issue a DHCPv6 Reconfigure message.  In that case, when the
   router receives the DHCPv6 Reconfigure message it prepares a unicast
   RA message with a DHCPv6 option that encodes the Reconfigure and
   sends the RA as an unsolicited unicast message to the node.

4.  Implementation Considerations

   The IPv6ND function and DHCPv6 function are typically implemented in
   separate router modules.  In that case, the IPv6 ND function extracts
   the DHCPv6 message from the option included in the RS message and

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   wraps it in IP/UDP headers.  The source address in the IP header is
   set to one of the router's unicast addresses, and the source port in
   the UDP header is set to the port number associated with the IPv6 ND
   function.  The IPv6 ND function then acts as a Lightweight DHCPv6
   Relay Agent (LDRA) [RFC6221] to forward the message to the DHCPv6
   relay or server function on-board the router.

   The forwarded DHCPv6 message then traverses any additional relays on
   the reverse path until it reaches the DHCPv6 server.  When the DHCPv6
   server processes the message, it delegates any necessary resources
   and sends a Reply via the same relay agent path as had occurred on
   the reverse path so that the Reply will eventually arrive back at the
   IPv6 ND function.  The IPv6 ND function then prepares an RA message
   with any autoconfiguration information associated with the link,
   embeds the DHCPv6 message body in an IPv6 ND DHCPv6 option, and
   returns the message via unicast to the node that sent the RS.

   In a preferred implementation, however, the IPv6ND and DHCPv6
   functions could be co-located in the same module on the router.  In
   that way the two functions would be coupled as though they were in
   fact a single unified function without the need for any IP/UDP
   encapsulation or LDRA processing.

5.  IANA Considerations

   The IANA is instructed to assign an IPv6 ND option Type value TBD for
   the DHCPv6 option.

6.  Security Considerations

   Security considerations for IPv6 Neighbor Discovery [RFC4861] and
   DHCPv6 [RFC3315][RFC3633] apply to this document.

   .

7.  Acknowledgements

   This work was motivated by discussions on the 6man and v6ops list.

   This work is aligned with the NASA Safe Autonomous Systems Operation
   (SASO) program under NASA contract number NNA16BD84C.

   This work is aligned with the FAA as per the SE2025 contract number
   DTFAWA-15-D-00030.

   This work is aligned with the Boeing Information Technology (BIT)
   MobileNet program and the Boeing Research & Technology (BR&T)
   enterprise autonomy program.

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8.  References

8.1.  Normative References

   [RFC3315]  Droms, R., Ed., Bound, J., Volz, B., Lemon, T., Perkins,
              C., and M. Carney, "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
              for IPv6 (DHCPv6)", RFC 3315, DOI 10.17487/RFC3315, July
              2003, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3315>.

   [RFC3633]  Troan, O. and R. Droms, "IPv6 Prefix Options for Dynamic
              Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) version 6", RFC 3633,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC3633, December 2003,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3633>.

   [RFC4861]  Narten, T., Nordmark, E., Simpson, W., and H. Soliman,
              "Neighbor Discovery for IP version 6 (IPv6)", RFC 4861,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4861, September 2007,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4861>.

   [RFC8200]  Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6
              (IPv6) Specification", STD 86, RFC 8200,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8200, July 2017,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8200>.

8.2.  Informative References

   [RFC6221]  Miles, D., Ed., Ooghe, S., Dec, W., Krishnan, S., and A.
              Kavanagh, "Lightweight DHCPv6 Relay Agent", RFC 6221,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6221, May 2011,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6221>.

Author's Address

   Fred L. Templin (editor)
   Boeing Research & Technology
   P.O. Box 3707
   Seattle, WA  98124
   USA

   Email: fltemplin@acm.org

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