Network Working Group                                      B. Aboba, Ed.
INTERNET-DRAFT                                              Elwyn Davies
Category: Informational                                        D. Thaler
<draft-iab-link-encaps-00.txt>               Internet Architecture Board
16 May 2006



           Multiple Encapsulation Methods Considered Harmful

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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This document describes architectural and operational issues that
   arise from link layer protocols supporting multiple Internet Protocol
   encapsulation methods.









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Table of Contents

1.     Introduction ..........................................    3
   1.1        Requirements ...................................    3
   1.2        Terminology ....................................    3
2.     Multiple Encapsulations ...............................    4
   2.1        Mitigating Practices ...........................    7
3.     Multiple Convergence Sublayers ........................    8
   3.1        Generality .....................................    8
   3.2        Layer Interdependence ..........................    9
   3.3        Maintainability and Extensibility ..............    9
   3.4        Interaction with Upper Layer Encryption ........    9
   3.5        Interoperability Guidance ......................    9
   3.6        Service Consistency ............................   10
4.     Security Considerations ...............................   11
5.     Recommendations .......................................   11
6.     IANA Considerations ...................................   12
7.     References ............................................   12
   7.1       Informative References ..........................   12
Acknowledgments ..............................................   14
Appendix A - IAB Members .....................................   14
Intellectual Property Statement ..............................   14
Disclaimer of Validity .......................................   15
Copyright Statement ..........................................   15



























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1.  Introduction

   This document describes the architectural and operational issues
   arising from use of multiple ways of encapsulating IP packets on the
   same link.  While typically a link layer  protocol supports only a
   single Internet Protocol (IP) encapsulation method, this is not
   always the case.  For example, on the same cable it is possible to
   encapsulate an IPv4 packet using Ethernet [DIX] encapsulation as
   defined in "A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams over
   Ethernet Networks" [RFC0894] or IEEE 802 [IEEE-802-1A.190]
   encapsulation as defined in "A Standard for the Transmission of IP
   Datagrams over IEEE 802 Networks" [RFC1042].  Historically, a further
   encapsulation method was used on some Ethernet systems as specified
   in "Trailer Encapsulations" [RFC0893].

   Recently new link types have been defined that support multiple
   encapsulation methods.  For example, IEEE 802.16 [IEEE-802.16] splits
   the Media Access Control (MAC) layer into a number of sublayers.  For
   the uppermost of these, the standard defines the concept of a
   service-specific Convergence Sublayer (CS) that can be instantiated
   in multiple ways, each with its own data frame encapsulation.  The
   two underlying sublayers (the MAC Common Part Sublayer and the
   Security Sublayer) provide common services for all instantiations of
   the CS.  While [IEEE-802.16] defined support for the ATM CS and the
   Packet CS, [IEEE-802.16e] added support for eight new Convergence
   Sublayers.  In each case there are multiple choices available for
   encapsulating IP packets.

   Issues resulting from support of multiple encapsulation methods are
   described in Section 2.  Additional problems resulting from the use
   of multiple Convergence Sublayers are described in Section 3.
   Security issues are described in Section 4.  Recommendations are
   provided in Section 5.

1.1.  Requirements

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

1.2.  Terminology

Broadcast domain
     The set of all endpoints that receive broadcast frames sent by any
     endpoint in the set.

Link A communication facility or physical medium that can sustain data
     communications between multiple network nodes, such as an Ethernet



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     (simple or bridged).  Each link endpoint has a unique link-layer
     identifier.

Link Layer
     Conceptual layer of control or processing logic that is responsible
     for maintaining control of the link.  The link layer functions
     provide an interface between the higher-layer logic and the link.
     The link layer is the layer immediately below IP.

2.  Multiple Encapsulation Methods

   The fundamental issues with multiple encapsulation methods on the
   same link are described in [RFC1042] and "Requirements for Internet
   Hosts -- Communication Layers" [RFC1122].  This section summarizes
   the concerns articulated in those documents and also describes the
   limitations of approaches suggested to mitigate the problems,
   including encapsulation negotiation and use of routers.

   [RFC1042] described the potential issues resulting from joint use of
   Ethernet and IEEE 802.3 encapsulation on the same physical cable:

   Interoperation with Ethernet

      It is possible to use the Ethernet link level protocol [DIX] on the
      same physical cable with the IEEE 802.3 link level protocol.  A
      computer interfaced to a physical cable used in this way could
      potentially read both Ethernet and 802.3 packets from the network.
      If a computer does read both types of packets, it must keep track of
      which link protocol was used with each other computer on the network
      and use the proper link protocol when sending packets.

      One should note that in such an environment, link level broadcast
      packets will not reach all the computers attached to the network, but
      only those using the link level protocol used for the broadcast.

      Since it must be assumed that most computers will read and send using
      only one type of link protocol, it is recommended that if such an
      environment (a network with both link protocols) is necessary, an IP
      gateway be used as if there were two distinct networks.

      Note that the MTU for the Ethernet allows a 1500 octet IP datagram,
      with the MTU for the 802.3 network allows only a 1492 octet IP
      datagram.

   When multiple IP encapsulation methods are supported on a given link,
   all hosts typically cannot be assumed to support the same set of
   encapsulation methods.  This in turn implies that the broadcast
   domain may not include all hosts on the link, necessitating the use



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   of a bridge, switch, or router to enable the hosts supporting
   disparate encapsulation methods to communicate with each other.
   However, hosts supporting multiple encapsulation methods will still
   need to determine the encapsulation method used to reach a
   destination host.  As noted in [RFC1122], Section 2.3.3:

      Furthermore, it is not useful or even possible for a dual-format
      host to discover automatically which format to send, because of
      the problem of link-layer broadcasts.

   To address these issues, "Requirements for Internet Hosts --
   Communication Layers" [RFC1122] provided guidance in Section 2.3.3:

           Every Internet host connected to a 10Mbps Ethernet cable:

            o    MUST be able to send and receive packets using RFC-894
                 encapsulation;

            o    SHOULD be able to receive RFC-1042 packets, intermixed
                 with RFC-894 packets; and

            o    MAY be able to send packets using RFC-1042 encapsulation.

            An Internet host that implements sending both the RFC-894 and
            the RFC-1042 encapsulation MUST provide a configuration switch
            to select which is sent, and this switch MUST default to RFC-
            894.

   By making Ethernet encapsulation mandatory to implement for both send
   and receive, [RFC1122] headed off potential interoperability
   problems.

   The issues with trailer encapsulation are described in [RFC1122]
   Section 2.3.1:

      DISCUSSION

         The trailer protocol is a link-layer encapsulation technique
         that rearranges the data contents of packets sent on the
         physical network.  In some cases, trailers improve the
         throughput of higher layer protocols by reducing the amount of
         data copying within the operating system.  Higher layer
         protocols are unaware of trailer use, but both the sending and
         receiving host MUST understand the protocol if it is used.
         Improper use of trailers can result in very confusing symptoms.
         Only packets with specific size attributes are encapsulated
         using trailers, and typically only a small fraction of the
         packets being exchanged have these attributes.  Thus, if a



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         system using trailers exchanges packets with a system that does
         not, some packets disappear into a black hole while others are
         delivered successfully.

      IMPLEMENTATION:

         On an Ethernet, packets encapsulated with trailers use a
         distinct Ethernet type [RFC893], and trailer negotiation is
         performed at the time that ARP is used to discover the link-
         layer address of a destination system.

         Specifically, the ARP exchange is completed in the usual manner
         using the normal IP protocol type, but a host that wants to
         speak trailers will send an additional "trailer ARP reply"
         packet, i.e., an ARP reply that specifies the trailer
         encapsulation protocol type but otherwise has the format of a
         normal ARP reply.  If a host configured to use trailers
         receives a trailer ARP reply message from a remote machine, it
         can add that machine to the list of machines that understand
         trailers, e.g., by marking the corresponding entry in the ARP
         cache.

         Hosts wishing to receive trailers send trailer ARP replies
         whenever they complete exchanges of normal ARP messages for IP.
         Thus, a host that received an ARP request for its IP protocol
         address would send a trailer ARP reply in addition to the
         normal IP ARP reply; a host that sent the IP ARP request would
         send a trailer ARP reply when it received the corresponding IP
         ARP reply.  In this way, either the requesting or responding
         host in an IP ARP exchange may request that it receive
         trailers.

         This scheme, using extra trailer ARP reply packets rather than
         sending an ARP request for the trailer protocol type, was
         designed to avoid a continuous exchange of ARP packets with a
         misbehaving host that, contrary to any specification or common
         sense, responded to an ARP reply for trailers with another ARP
         reply for IP.  This problem is avoided by sending a trailer ARP
         reply in response to an IP ARP reply only when the IP ARP reply
         answers an outstanding request; this is true when the hardware
         address for the host is still unknown when the IP ARP reply is
         received.  A trailer ARP reply may always be sent along with an
         IP ARP reply responding to an IP ARP request.

   "Requirements for Internet Hosts - Communication Layers" [RFC1122]
   Section 2.3.1 provided the following guidance for use of trailer
   encapsulation:




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      The trailer protocol for link-layer encapsulation MAY be used, but
      only when it has been verified that both systems (host or gateway)
      involved in the link-layer communication implement trailers.  If
      the system does not dynamically negotiate use of the trailer
      protocol on a per-destination basis, the default configuration
      MUST disable the protocol.

   Since trailer encapsulation negotiation depends on ARP, it can only
   be used where all hosts on the link are within the same broadcast
   domain.  Therefore it implicitly assumes that all hosts on the link
   support standard Ethernet encapsulation [RFC0894].  It did not enable
   negotiation between Ethernet and IEEE 802 encapsulation, only between
   standard Ethernet [RFC0894] and trailer [RFC0893] encapsulation.

2.1.  Mitigating Practices

   In order to mitigate problems arising from multiple encapsulation
   methods, it may be possible to use bridges, switches, or routers, or
   to attempt to negotiate the encapsulation method to be used.  As
   described below, neither approach is completely satisfactory.

   The use of bridges, switches, or routers to enable communication
   between hosts utilizing multiple encapsulation methods is not a
   panacea.  If separate prefixes are used for each encapsulation, then
   each encapsulation method can be treated as a separate interface with
   the choice of encapsulation determined from the routing table.
   However, if the same prefix is used for each encapsulation method, it
   is necessary to keep state for each destination host.

   In situations where multiple encapsulation methods are enabled on a
   single link, negotiation may be supported in order to allow hosts to
   determine how to encapsulate a packet for a particular destination
   host.

   Experience with trailer encapsulation suggests some of the issues
   that may be encountered in attempting to negotiate encapsulation
   above the link layer.  Since the trailer negotiation mechanism
   resulted in multiple ARP replies, a similar mechanism could in theory
   be used to negotiate an encapsulation method by sending negotiation
   packets over all encapsulation methods supported.  However, this
   results in higher bandwidth overhead, higher latency when
   establishing communication, and additional complexity in
   implementations.

   This issue can be avoided by performing encapsulation negotiation
   within the link layer.  However, unless the link layer allows the
   negotiation of the encapsulation between any two hosts, then
   interoperability problems can still result if more than one



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   encapsulation is possible on a given link.  In general, a host cannot
   assume that all other hosts on a link support the same set of
   encapsulation methods, so that unless a link layer protocol only
   supports point-to-point communication, negotiation of multiple
   potential encapsulation methods will be problematic.  To avoid this
   problem, it is desirable for link layer encapsulation negotiation to
   determine a single IP encapsulation, not merely to indicate which
   encapsulation methods are possible.

   Even if a single encapsulation is negotiated, problems can still
   occur if de-multiplexing of ARP, IPv4, IPv6, and any other protocols
   in use, is not supported at the link layer.  While is possible to
   demultiplex such packets based on the Version field (first four bits
   on the packet), this assumes that IPv4-only implementations will be
   able to properly handle IPv6 packets.  As a result, a more robust
   design is to demultiplex protocols in the link layer, such as by
   assigning a different protocol type, as is done in IEEE 802 media
   where a Type of 0x0800 is used for IPv4, and 0x86DD for IPv6.

3.  Multiple Convergence Sublayers

   In addition to the problems encountered with multiple encapsulation
   methods, the use of multiple Convergence Sublayers as practiced in
   [IEEE-802.16] brings with it an additional set of issues.

3.1.  Generality

   Link layer protocols such as [IEEE.802-1A.1990] and [DIX] inherently
   support the ability to add support for a new packet type without
   modification to the link layer protocol.  As noted in [Generic], the
   definition of multiple Convergence Sublayers within 802.16 appears to
   imply that the standard will need to be modified to support new
   packet types:

      We are concerned that the 802.16 protocol cannot easily be
      extendable to transport new protocols over the 802.16 air
      interface.  It would appear that a Convergence Sublayer is needed
      for every type of protocol transported over the 802.16 MAC.  Every
      time a new protocol type needs to be transported over the 802.16
      air interface, the 802.16 standard needs to be modified to define
      a new CS type.  We need to have a generic Packet Convergence
      Sublayer that can support multi-protocols and which does not
      require further modification to the 802.16 standard to support new
      protocols.  We believe that this was the original intention of the
      Packet CS. Furthermore, we believe it is difficult for the
      industry to agree on a set of CS's that all devices must implement
      to claim "compliance".




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   The use of IP and/or upper layer protocol specific encapsulation
   methods, rather than a 'neutral' general purpose encapsulation may
   give rise to a number of undesirable effects explored in the
   following subsections.

3.2.  Layer Interdependence

   Standardizing IP and/or upper layer specific encapsulation methods in
   the link layer will almost inevitably lead to interdependencies
   between the two specifications.  Although this might appear to be
   desirable in terms of providing a highly specific (and hence
   interoperable) mapping between the capabilities provided by the link
   layer (e.g., quality of service support) and those that are needed by
   the upper layer, this sort of capability is probably better provided
   by a more comprehensive service interface (Application Programming
   Interface) in conjunction with a single non-specific encapsulation.

3.3.  Maintainability and Extensibility

   If the link layer does not provide a general purpose encapsulation
   method, deployment of new IP and/or upper layer protocols will be
   dependent on deployment of the corresponding new encapsulation
   support in the link layer.

   IPv6, in particular, provides an extensible header system.  An upper
   layer specific encapsulation method would still have to provide a
   degree of generality in order to cope with future extensions of IPv6
   that might wish to make use of some of the link layer services
   already provided.

3.4.  Interaction with Upper Layer Encryption

   If an IP or upper layer specific encapsulation method proposes to
   inspect the contents of the packet being encapsulated (e.g., 802.16
   IP CS mechanisms for determining the connection identifier (CID) to
   use to transmit a packet), the fields available for inspection may be
   limited if the packet is encrypted before passing to the link layer.

3.5.  Interoperability Guidance

   [IEEE-802.16e] has defined multiple Convergence Sublayers capable of
   carrying IP traffic.  In addition to the Ethernet CS, IPv4 CS and
   IPv6 CS, ten other Convergence Sublayers are defined.  Within
   [IEEE-802.16e], the Ethernet CS and IPv4 CS are mandatory-to-
   implement.  In situations where multiple CS's are operational and
   capable of carrying IP traffic, interoperability problems are
   possible in the absence of clear implementation guidelines.  Some of
   the issues that may arise include:



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ARP  Where multiple CS's are operational, it may not be obvious how ARP
     should be implemented.  For example, should an ARP frame be
     encapsulated over the Ethernet CS, or should alternative mechanisms
     be used for address resolution, utilizing the IPv4 CS?

Data Frame Encapsulation
     When sending an IP packet, which CS should be used?  Where multiple
     CS's are operational, the issue can be treated as a multi-homing
     problem, with each CS constituting its own interface.  Since a
     given CS may have associated bandwidth or quality of service
     constraints, routing metrics could be adjusted to take this into
     account, allowing the routing layer to choose based on which CS
     appears more attractive.

     However there is no guarantee that other hosts on the link will
     support the same set of CS's, or that if they do, that their
     routing tables will result in identical preferences.

     This could lead to interoperability problems or routing asymmetry.
     For example, consider the effects on Neighbor Discovery:

[a]  If hosts choose to send Neighbor Discovery traffic on different
     CS's, it is possible that a host sending a Neighbor Discovery
     packet will not receive a reply, even though the target host is
     reachable over another CS.

[b]  Where hosts all support the same set of CS's, but have different
     routing preferences, it is possible for a host to send a Neighbor
     Discovery packet over one CS and receive a reply over another CS.

   Given these issues, it is strongly recommended that only a single
   encapsulation be usable in a given circumstance.

3.6.  Service Consistency

   If a link layer protocol provides multiple encapsulation methods, the
   services offered to the IP and upper layer protocols may differ
   qualitatively between the different encapsulation methods.  For
   example, the 802.16 [IEEE-802.16] link layer protocol offers both
   'native' encapsulation for IPv4 and IPv6 packets, and emulated
   Ethernet encapsulation.  In the native case, the IP layer has direct
   access to the quality of service (QoS) capabilities of the 802.16
   transmission channels, whereas using the Ethernet encapsulation the
   IP QoS has first to be mapped through the rather more limited
   capabilities of Ethernet QoS.  Consequently, the service offered to
   an application depends on the encapsulation method employed and may
   be inconsistent between sessions.  This may be confusing for the user
   and the application.



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4.  Security Considerations

   The use of multiple encapsulation methods does not appear to have
   significant security implications.

   An attacker might be able to utilize an encapsulation method which
   was not in normal use on a link to cause a Denial of Service attack
   which would exhaust the processing resources of interfaces if packets
   utilizing this encapsulation were passed up the stack to any
   significant degree before being discarded.  However, the use of
   encapsulation methods that need to inspect fields in the packet being
   encapsulated in order to provide service classification might deter
   the deployment of end-to-end security; this is undesirable.

   Similarly, if one method is rarely used, that method is potentially
   more likely to have exploitable implementation bugs.

   An attacker might be able to force a more cumbersome encapsulation
   method between two endpoints, even when a lighter weight one is
   available, hence forcing higher resource consumption on the link and
   within those endpoints.

   If different methods have different security properties, an attacker
   might be able to force a less secure method as an elevation path to
   get access to some other resource or data.


5.  Recommendations

   The use of multiple encapsulation methods on the same link is
   problematic, as discussed above.  Support of multiple encapsulation
   methods requires additional implementation complexity which may not
   be practical for devices with limited resources, and the lack of
   uniform encapsulation support results in potential interoperability
   problems.

   One argument given for support of multiple encapsulation methods on
   the same link is that one encapsulation may not fit all usage
   scenarios.  For example, it has been argued that IEEE 802 or Ethernet
   encapsulation of IP result in excessive overhead due to the size of
   the data frame headers, and that this can adversely affect
   performance on wireless networks, particularly in situations where
   support of Voice over IP (VOIP) is required.  However, even where
   these performance concerns are valid, solutions exist that do not
   require defining multiple IP encapsulation methods.  For example,
   links may support Ethernet frame compression so that Ethernet Source
   and Destination Address fields are not sent with every packet.




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   On balance, we do not believe that the benefits of multiple IP
   encapsulation methods outweigh the disadvantages. This is a judgment
   supported by past history as well as by reasoned analysis.  Although
   multiple IP encapsulation methods were defined on Ethernet cabling,
   recent implementations support only the Ethernet encapsulation of
   IPv4 defined in [RFC0894].  In order to avoid a repeat of the
   experience with IPv4, for operation of IPv6 on IEEE 802.3 media, only
   the Ethernet encapsulation was defined in "A Method for the
   Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Ethernet Networks" [RFC1972].

   To avoid problems resulting from use of multiple IP encapsulation
   methods:

      When developing standards for encapsulating IP packets on a link
      layer technology, it is desirable that only a single encapsulation
      method should be standardized for each link layer technology;

      If a link layer protocol offers multiple encapsulation methods for
      IP packets, it is strongly recommended that only one of these
      encapsulation methods should be in use on any given link or within
      a single wireless transmission domain;

      Encapsulation mechanisms should be neutral with respect to the
      contents of the packet being encapsulated;

      Where multiple encapsulation methods are supported on a link, a
      single encapsulation should be mandatory to implement for send and
      receive;

      If multiple encapsulation methods for IP packets on a single link
      layer technology are deemed to be necessary, care should be taken
      to match the services available between encapsulation methods as
      closely as possible;

      Link layer protocols should enable network packets (IPv4, IPv6,
      ARP, etc.)  to be de-multiplexed in the link layer.

6.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no actions for IANA.

7.  References

7.1.  Informative References

[DIX]
     Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel Corporation, and Xerox
     Corporation, "The Ethernet -- A Local Area Network: Data Link Layer



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     and Physical Layer (Version 2.0)", November 1982.

[Generic]
     Wang, L. et al, "A Generic Packet Convergence Sublayer (GPCS) for
     Supporting Multiple Protocols over 802.16 Air Interface",
     Submission to IEEE 802.16g: CB0216g_05_025r4.pdf, November 2005,
     <http:// www.ieee802.org/16/netman/contrib/C80216g-05_025r4.pdf>.

[IEEE-802.16]
     Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, "Information
     technology - Telecommunications and information exchange between
     systems - Local and metropolitan area networks, Part 16: Air
     Interface for Fixed Broadband Wireless Access Systems", IEEE
     Standard 802.16-2004, October 2004.

[IEEE-802.16e]
     Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, "Information
     technology - Telecommunications and information exchange between
     systems - Local and Metropolitan Area Networks - Part 16: Air
     Interface for Fixed and Mobile Broadband Wireless Access Systems,
     Amendment for Physical and Medium Access Control Layers for
     Combined Fixed and Mobile Operation in Licensed Bands", IEEE
     P802.16e, September 2005.

[IEEE.802-1A.1990]
     Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, "Local Area
     Networks and Metropolitan Area Networks: Overview and Architecture
     of Network Standards", IEEE Standard 802.1A, 1990.

[IEEE.802-1D.1998]
     Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, "Information
     technology - Telecommunications and information exchange between
     systems - Local area networks - Media access control (MAC)
     bridges", IEEE Standard 802.1D, 1998.

[IEEE.802-3.1985]
     Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, "Carrier Sense
     Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) Access Method
     and Physical Layer Specifications", IEEE Standard 802.3, 1985.

[RFC0893]
     Leffler, S. and M. Karels, "Trailer encapsulations", RFC 893, April
     1984.

[RFC0894]
     Hornig, C., "Standard for the transmission of IP datagrams over
     Ethernet networks", STD 41, RFC 894, April 1984.




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[RFC1042]
     Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, "Standard for the transmission of IP
     datagrams over IEEE 802 networks", STD 43, RFC 1042, February 1988.

[RFC1972]
     Crawford, M., "A Method for the Transmission of IPv6 Packets over
     Ethernet Networks", RFC 1972, August 1996.

[RFC2119]
     Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
     Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

Acknowledgments

   The authors would like to acknowledge Jeff Mandin, Bob Hinden and
   Jari Arkko for contributions to this document.

Appendix A - IAB Members at the time of this writing

   Bernard Aboba
   Loa Andersson
   Brian Carpenter
   Leslie Daigle
   Elwyn Davies
   Kevin Fall
   Olaf Kolkman
   Kurtis Lindqvist
   David Meyer
   David Oran
   Eric Rescorla
   Dave Thaler
   Lixia Zhang

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   such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this



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   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
   http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

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Acknowledgment

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