Internet Engineering Task Force                                 J. Bound
INTERNET DRAFT                                   Digital Equipment Corp.
DHC Working Group                                             C. Perkins
Obsoletes:  draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-03.txt                    IBM Research
                                                        12 February 1996


         Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6)
                      draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-04.txt


Status of This Memo

   This document is a submission to the DHC Working Group of the
   Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Comments should be submitted
   to the dhcp-v6@bucknell.edu mailing list.

   This document is an Internet-Draft.  Internet-Drafts are working
   documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas,
   and its working groups.  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.

   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.''

   To learn the current status of any Internet-Draft, please check the
   ``1id-abstracts.txt'' listing contained in the Internet- Drafts
   Shadow Directories on ftp.is.co.za (Africa), nic.nordu.net (Europe),
   munnari.oz.au (Pacific Rim), ds.internic.net (US East Coast), or
   ftp.isi.edu (US West Coast).

   Distribution of this document is unlimited.


Abstract

   The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) provides a framework
   for passing configuration information, via options, to IPv6 hosts.
   It offers the capability of automatic allocation of reusable network
   addresses and additional configuration options.  This protocol should
   be considered a stateful counterpart to the IPv6 Stateless Address
   Autoconfiguration protocol specification.










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                                Contents



Status of This Memo                                                    i

Abstract                                                               i

 1. Introduction                                                       1
     1.1. Specification Language  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    1

 2. Terminology and Definitions                                        2
     2.1. IPv6 Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    2
     2.2. DHCPv6 Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    4

 3. Protocol Design Model                                              5
     3.1. Design Goals  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    5
     3.2. DHCPv6 Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    6
     3.3. Request/Response Processing Model . . . . . . . . . . . .    7

 4. DHCPv6 Message Formats and Field Definitions                       8
     4.1. UDP Ports used for DHCPv6 messages  . . . . . . . . . . .    8
     4.2. DHCP Solicit Message Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    8
     4.3. DHCP Advertise Message Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    9
     4.4. DHCP Request Message Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   10
     4.5. DHCP Reply Message Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   12
     4.6. DHCP Release Message Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   13
     4.7. DHCP Reconfigure Message Format . . . . . . . . . . . . .   14

 5. DHCP Client Considerations                                        15
     5.1. DHCP Solicit Message Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . .   15
     5.2. DHCP Advertise Message Processing . . . . . . . . . . . .   15
     5.3. DHCP Request Message Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . .   16
     5.4. DHCP Reply Message Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   17
     5.5. DHCP Release Message Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . .   18
     5.6. DHCP Reconfigure Message Processing . . . . . . . . . . .   18

 6. DHCP Server Considerations                                        19
     6.1. DHCP Solicit and Advertise Message Processing . . . . . .   19
     6.2. DHCP Request and Reply Message Processing . . . . . . . .   19
     6.3. DHCP Release Message Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . .   20
     6.4. DHCP Reconfigure Message Processing . . . . . . . . . . .   21

 7. DHCP Relay Considerations                                         22
     7.1. DHCP Solicit and DHCP Advertise Message Processing  . . .   22
     7.2. DHCP Request Message Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . .   23



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     7.3. DHCP Reply Message Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   23
     7.4. Retransmission and Configuation Variables . . . . . . . .   23

 8. Security Considerations                                           25

 9. Acknowledgements                                                  25

 A. Related Work in IPv6                                              26

 B. Change History                                                    27
     B.1. Changes from November 95 to February 96 Drafts  . . . . .   27

Chair's Address                                                       29

Author's Address                                                      29




































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1. Introduction

   The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) provides configuration
   parameters to Internet hosts.  DHCP consists of a protocol for
   delivering host-specific configuration parameters from a DHCP server
   to a host, and a mechanism for allocation of network addresses and
   other related parameters to IPv6 hosts.

   DHCP is built on a client-server model, where designated DHCP
   server hosts allocate network addresses and automatically deliver
   configuration parameters to dynamically configured hosts.  Throughout
   the remainder of this document, the term "server" refers to a host
   providing initialization parameters through DHCP, and the term
   "client" refers to a host requesting initialization parameters from
   a DHCP server.  DHCPv6 servers maintain state for their clients,
   in contrast to IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration [9],
   where IPv6 hosts should get the same results if they repeat the
   autoconfiguration procedure multiple times.

   DHCPv6 uses Request and Reply messages to support a client/server
   processing model whereby both client and server are assured that
   requested configuration parameters have been received and accepted by
   the client.  DHCPv6 supports optional configuration parameters and
   processing for hosts through its companion document Extensions for
   the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 [5].

   The IPv6 Addressing Architecture [3] and IPv6 Stateless Address
   Autoconfiguration specifications provide new features not available
   in IP version 4 (IPv4) [8], which are used to simplify and generalize
   the operation of DHCPv6 clients.

   Section 2 provides definitions for terminology used throughout this
   document.  Section 3 provides a overview of the protocol design model
   that guides the design choices in the specification; section 3.2
   briefly describes the protocol messages and their semantics.
   Section 4 provides the message formats and field definitions used for
   each message.  Sections 5,  6, and  7 specify how clients, servers,
   and relays interact.  Appendix A summarizes related work in IPv6 that
   will provide helpful context; it is not part of this specification,
   but included for informational purposes.


1.1. Specification Language

   In this document, several words are used to signify the requirements
   of the specification.  These words are often capitalized.





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      MUST               This word, or the adjective "required", means
                         that the definition is an absolute requirement
                         of the specification.

      MUST NOT           This phrase means that the definition is an
                         absolute prohibition of the specification.

      SHOULD             This word, or the adjective "recommended",
                         means that there may exist valid reasons in
                         particular circumstances to ignore this item,
                         but the full implications must be understood
                         and carefully weighed before choosing a
                         different course.  Unexpected results may
                         result otherwise.

      MAY                This word, or the adjective "optional", means
                         that this item is one of an allowed set of
                         alternatives.  An implementation which does
                         not include this option MUST be prepared to
                         interoperate with another implementation which
                         does include the option.

      silently discard   The implementation discards the datagram
                         without further processing, and without
                         indicating an error to the sender.  The
                         implementation SHOULD provide the capability of
                         logging the error, including the contents of
                         the discarded datagram, and SHOULD record the
                         event in a statistics counter.


2. Terminology and Definitions

   Relevant terminology from the IPv6 Protocol [2], IPv6 Addressing
   Architecture, and IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration will be
   provided, and then the DHCPv6 terminology.


2.1. IPv6 Terminology

      IP

         Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6).  The terms IPv4 and IPv6
         are used only in contexts where necessary to avoid ambiguity.

      node

         A device that implements IPv6.



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      router

         A node that forwards IPv6 datagrams not explicitly addressed to
         itself.

      host

         Any node that is not a router.

      link

         A communication facility or medium over which nodes can
         communicate at the link layer, i.e., the layer immediately
         below IPv6.  Examples are Ethernet (simple or bridged); PPP
         links, X.25, Frame Relay, or ATM networks; and internet (or
         higher) layer "tunnels", such as tunnels over IPv4 or IPv6
         itself.

      link-layer identifier

         a link-layer identifier for an interface.  Examples include
         IEEE 802 addresses for Ethernet links, and E.164 addresses for
         ISDN links.

      link-local address

         An address having link-only scope that can be used to reach
         neighboring nodes attached to the same link.  All interfaces
         have a link-local address.

      neighbors

         Nodes attached to the same link.

      interface

         A node's attachment to the link.

      address

         An IP layer identifier for an interface or a set of interfaces.

      message

         The data exchanged between DHCP agents and clients; in this
         specification, messages are delivered via IPv6 and UDP.





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      datagram

         An IP header plus payload.

      unicast address

         An identifier for a single interface.  A datagram sent to a
         unicast address is delivered to the interface identified by
         that address.

      multicast address

         An identifier for a set of interfaces (typically belonging to
         different nodes).  A datagram sent to a multicast address is
         delivered to all interfaces identified by that address.


2.2. DHCPv6 Terminology

      configuration parameter

         Any parameter that can be used by a node to configure its
         network environment and enable communication on a link or
         internetwork.

      client

         A host that initiates requests on a link to obtain
         configuration parameters.

      server

         A server is a node that responds to requests from clients on a
         link to provide:  addresses, dynamic updates to DNS, or other
         configuration parameters.

      relay

         A node that may advertise DHCP server addresses, or may act as
         an intermediary to deliver DHCP messages between clients and
         servers.

      DHCP Agent

         Either a DHCPv6 server or a DHCPv6 relay.






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      agent address

         The address of a neighboring DHCP relay or DHCP server on the
         same link as the DHCP client.

      msg-type

         The msg-type defines the DHCPv6 protocol type for a message.

      transaction-ID

         The transaction-ID is a monotonically increasing integer
         identifier specified by the client and is used by the client to
         match a DHCP Reply to a pending DHCP Request.

      server address

         The server address specifies the address for the server
         responding to a client.

      binding

         A binding in DHCPv6 contains the data which a DHCPv6 server
         MUST maintain for each of its clients.  An implementation
         MUST support bindings consisting of at least a client's
         link-local address, agent address, preferred lifetime and valid
         lifetime [9] for each client address, and the transaction-ID.


3. Protocol Design Model

   This section is provided for implementors to understand the DHCPv6
   protocol design model from an architectural perspective.  The goals,
   conceptual models and implementation examples presented in this
   section do not specify requirements of the DHCPv6 protocol.


3.1. Design Goals

   The following list gives general design goals for this DHCPv6
   specification.

    -  DHCPv6 should be a mechanism rather than a policy.  DHCPv6 must
       allow local system administrators control over configuration
       parameters where desired; e.g., local system administrators
       should be able to enforce local policies concerning allocation
       and access to local resources where desired.




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    -  DHCPv6 MUST NOT introduce any requirement for manual
       configuration of DHCPv6 client hosts, except possibly for
       manually configured keys.  Each host should be able to discover
       appropriate local configuration parameters without user
       intervention, and incorporate those parameters into its own
       configuration.

    -  DHCPv6 MUST NOT require a server on each link.  To allow for
       scale and economy, DHCPv6 must work across relay agents.

    -  A DHCPv6 client must be prepared to receive multiple responses to
       solicitations for DHCP servers.  Some installations may include
       multiple, overlapping DHCPv6 servers to enhance reliability
       and/or to increase performance.

    -  DHCPv6 must coexist with statically configured, non-participating
       hosts and with existing network protocol implementations.

    -  DHCPv6 MUST be compatible with IPv6 Stateless Address
       Autoconfiguration.

    -  DHCPv6 must support the requirements of automated renumbering of
       IPv6 addresses [1].

    -  DHCPv6 servers should be able to support Dynamic Updates to
       DNS [10].

    -  A DHCPv6 server to server protocol is NOT part of this DHCPv6
       specification.

    -  It is NOT a design goal of DHCPv6 to specify how a server
       configuration parameter database is maintained or determined.
       Methods for configuring DHCP servers are outside the scope of
       this document.


3.2. DHCPv6 Messages

   Each DHCPv6 message contains a type, which defines whether the
   message originated from a DHCPv6 server or client.

   The message types are as follows:

      01 DHCP Solicit

         The DHCP Solicit message is a DHCPv6 multicast (or in special
         circumstances unicast) message from a client to one or more
         neighboring DHCPv6 Agents.



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      02 DHCP Advertise

         The DHCP Advertise is an IPv6 unicast message from a DHCP Agent
         in response to a client DHCP Solicit.

      03 DHCP Request

         The DHCP Request is an IPv6 unicast message from a client to
         a server, when the client knows the IPv6 unicast address of a
         server, to request configuration parameters on a network.

      04 DHCP Reply

         The DHCP Reply is an IPv6 unicast message sent by a server to
         respond to a client's DHCP Request.  Extensions [5] to the DHCP
         Reply describe the resources that the DHCP Server has committed
         and allocated to the client, and may contain other information
         for use by the client.

      05 DHCP Release

         The DHCP Release message is used by a DHCPv6 client to inform
         the server that the client is releasing a particular address,
         or set of addresses or resources, even though the addresses or
         resources may still be marked valid in the server's binding for
         the client.

      06 DHCP Reconfigure

         The DHCP Reconfigure message is used by a DHCPv6 server
         to inform the client that the server has new configuration
         information of importance to the client.  The client is
         expected to initiate a new Request/Reply transaction.


3.3. Request/Response Processing Model

   Processing details for the DHCP messages listed above are specified
   in Sections 5, 6, and 7.

   The request/response processing for DHCPv6 is transaction based
   and uses a best-effort set of messages to guarantee a completed
   transaction.  The timeout and retransmission guidelines and
   configuration variables are discussed in Section 7.4.

   The request/response set is always started by a client with a DHCP
   Request, which may be issued after the client knows the server's
   address.  The response message is from the server and is the DHCP



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   Reply.  At this point in the flow all data has been received.  To
   provide a method of recovery if either the client or server do not
   receive the messages to complete the transaction, the client is
   required to retransmit any DHCP Request message until it elicits a
   DHCP Reply, or until it can be reasonably certain that the desired
   DHCP Server is unavailable.


4. DHCPv6 Message Formats and Field Definitions

   All fields in DHCPv6 messages MUST be initialized to binary zeroes by
   both the client and server unless otherwise noted.  DHCPv6 message
   types not defined here (msg-types 0 and 7-255) are reserved.

   All DHCP Agents MUST join the DHCPv6 Server/Relay-Agent multicast
   group at the well-known multicast address FF02:0:0:0:0:0:1:0.

   Servers on the same link as the client MUST use the source address
   in the IPv6 header from the client as the destination address in the
   server's response datagrams.


4.1. UDP Ports used for DHCPv6 messages

   DHCPv6 uses the UDP [7] protocol to communicate between clients
   and servers.  UDP is not reliable, but DHCPv6 must provide some
   reliability between clients and servers.  If a response is not
   received after transmission of a DHCP message, the message MUST be
   retransmitted according to the rules specified in  7.4.

   A Client MUST transmit all messages over UDP using UDP port 547 as
   the destination port.  A client MUST receive all messages from UDP
   port 546.

   A DHCP Agent MUST transmit all messages over UDP using UDP port 546
   as the destination port.  A DHCP Agent MUST receive all messages over
   UDP using UDP port 547.


4.2. DHCP Solicit Message Format

   A DHCPv6 client transmits a DHCP Solicit message to obtain the
   address of a neighboring DHCP Agent, and to obtain one or more
   addresses for DHCP servers which the DHCP Agent is configured to
   advertise.  If a DHCPv6 client does not know any DHCP Agent address,
   or wants to locate a new server to receive configuration parameters,





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   the client SHOULD use, as the destination IP address, the DHCPv6
   Server/Relay-Agent multicast address FF02:0:0:0:0:0:1:0.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    msg-type   |   msg-flags   |            RESERVED           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  extensions (variable number and length) ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      msg-type      1

      msg-flags     0

      RESERVED      0

      extensions    No extensions are defined at this time.


4.3. DHCP Advertise Message Format

   A DHCPv6 agent sends a DHCP Advertise message to inform a prospective
   client about the IPv6 address of a DHCP Agent to which a DHCP Request
   message may be sent.

   A DHCPv6 agent MAY periodically transmit DHCP Advertise messages to
   the All-DHCPv6 Clients multicast address, no more often than once per
   second, and with TTL == 1.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    msg-type   |S|  msg-flags  |  server-count |   reserved    |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                         agent address                         |
   |                          (16 octets)                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                        server addresses                       |
   |                        (16 octets each)                       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |              extensions (variable number and length) ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      msg-type           2

      S                  If set, the agent address is also a server
                         address.



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      msg-flags          0

      server-count       The number of addresses listed in the server
                         addresses field.

      RESERVED           0

      agent address      The IPv6 address of a neighboring DHCP Agent
                         interface

      server addresses   The IPv6 address(es) of the DHCPv6 server(s)
                         which the DHCP Agent has been configured to
                         advertise.

      extensions         See [5].

   Note that if a neighboring DHCPv6 server issues the DHCP Advertise,
   then the agent address will be the IPv6 address of one of the
   server's interfaces, the 'S' bit will be set, the agent address will
   be an address of the server, and there may be zero server addresses
   sent in the DHCP Advertise message.  It is an error for server-count
   to be zero if the 'S' bit is not set.


4.4. DHCP Request Message Format

   In order to request parameters from a DHCP server, a client sends a
   DHCP Request message and appends the extensions which are appropriate
   for obtaining the needed parameters [5].  If the client does not know
   any DHCPv6 server address, it must first obtain a server address by
   multicasting a DHCP Solicit message (see Section 4.2).  If the client
   does not have a valid IPv6 address which is reachable by the DHCPv6
   server, the client MUST use the unicast IP address of a local DHCPv6
   relay as the destination IP address.  Otherwise, the client MAY omit
   the server address in the DHCP Request message; in this case, the
   client MUST send the DHCP Request message directly to the server just















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   as it would any other datagram destined for the server, using the
   server address as the IPv6 destination address in the IPv6 header.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    msg-type   |S|C| reserved  |        transaction-ID         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                         (if present)                          |
   |                   server address (16 octets)                  |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                         agent address                         |
   |                          (16 octets)                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       link-local address                      |
   |                          (16 octets)                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  extensions (variable number and length)   ....
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      msg-type             3

      S                    If set, the server address is present

      C                    If set, the client requests the server to
                           clear all existing resources and bindings
                           currently associated with the client,
                           deallocating as needed.

      reserved             0

      transaction-ID       A monotonically increasing number which the
                           client asks the server to copy into its DHCP
                           Reply, so that the client can match Replies
                           with pending Requests.

      server address       If present, the IPv6 address of the DHCPv6
                           server which should receive the client's DHCP
                           Request message.

      agent address        The IPv6 address of the relay or server
                           interface from which the client received the
                           DHCP Advertise message

      link-local address   The IPv6 link-local address of the client
                           interface from which the the client issued
                           the DHCP Request message




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      extensions           See [5].


4.5. DHCP Reply Message Format

   The server sends a DHCP Reply message in response to every DHCP
   Request received.  If the request comes with the 'S' bit set, the
   client could not directly send the Request to the server and had to
   use a neighboring relay agent.  In that case, the server sends back
   the DHCP Reply with the 'L' bit set, and the DHCP Reply is addressed
   to the agent address found in the DHCP Request message.  If the
   'L' bit is set, then the client's link-local address will also be
   present.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    msg-type   |   error code  |        transaction-ID         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |L|                         RESERVED                            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                         (if present)                          |
   |                 link-local address (16 octets)                |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  extensions (variable number and length)   ....
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+


      msg-type             3

      error code           One of the following values:

                            0 Success
                            1 Failure, reason unspecified
                            2 Authentication failed or nonexistent
                            3 Poorly formed request
                            4 Resources unavailable
                            5 Client record unavailable
                           16 Wrong phase of moon
                           32 Dogbert didn't like it
                           64 Server unreachable (ICMP error)

      transaction-ID       Copied from the transaction-ID which the
                           DHCPv6 server received in the DHCP Request.
                           to help the client match this reply with an
                           outstanding Request.

      L                    If set, the link-local address is present



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      RESERVED             0

      link-local address   If present, the IPv6 address of the client
                           interface which issued the corresponding DHCP
                           Request message.

      extensions           See [5].

   If the 'L' bit is set, and thus the link-local address is present in
   the Reply message, the Reply is sent by the server to the relay's
   address which was specified as the agent address in the DHCP Request
   message, and the relay uses the link-local address to deliver the
   Reply message to the client.


4.6. DHCP Release Message Format

   The DHCP Release message is sent without the assistance of any DHCPv6
   relay.  When a client sends a Release message, it is assumed to
   have a valid IPv6 address with sufficient scope to allow access to
   the target server.  Only the parameters which are specified in the
   extensions are released.  The DHCP server acknowledges the Release
   message by sending a DHCP Reply (Section 6.2).

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    msg-type   |D|  msg-flags  |        transaction-ID         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                         agent address                         |
   |                          (16 octets)                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                      link-local address                       |
   |                          (16 octets)                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  extensions (variable number and length)   ....
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      msg-type             5

      D                    If the 'D' ("Direct") flag is set, the client
                           instructs the server to send the DHCP Reply
                           directly back to the client, instead of
                           using the given agent address and link-local
                           address to relay the Reply message.

      msg-flags            0




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      transaction-ID       A monotonically increasing number which the
                           client asks the server to use in its DHCP
                           Reply, to help the client match Replies with
                           outstanding Releases.

      agent address        The IPv6 address of the agent interface to
                           which the client issued the DHCP Request
                           message

      link-local address   The IPv6 link-local address of the client
                           interface from which the the client issued
                           the DHCP Request message

      extensions           See [5]

   If the client knows that the address it uses as the source IP address
   in its IPv6 header will still be valid after the server performs the
   operations requested in the extensions to the DHCP Release message,
   the client can then specify the 'D' flag.  When the 'D' flag is set,
   the server MUST send the DHCP Reply back to the client's address
   as shown in the source address of the IPv6 header of the Release
   message.  Otherwise, when the 'D' bit is not set, the server MUST use
   the agent address and link-local address in its DHCP Reply message to
   forward the Reply message back to the releasing client.


4.7. DHCP Reconfigure Message Format

   The DHCP Reconfigure message is sent without the assistance of any
   DHCPv6 relay.  When a server sends a Reconfigure message, the client
   to which it is sent is assumed to have a valid IPv6 address with
   sufficient scope to be accessible by the server.  Only the parameters
   which are specified in the extensions to the Reconfigure message need
   be requested again by the client.

   The client SHOULD listen at UDP port 546 to receive possible DHCP
   Reconfigure messages.  If the client does not listen for DHCP
   Reconfigure messages, it is possible that the client will not receive
   notification that its DHCP server has deallocated the client's IPv6
   address and/or other resources allocated to the client.











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   See discussion in 6.3.

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    msg-type   |   msg-flags   |           reserved            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  extensions (variable number and length)   ....
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      msg-type    6

      msg-flags   0

      reserved    0

      extensions  See [5]


5. DHCP Client Considerations

   A DHCPv6 client MUST silently discard any DHCP Solicit, DHCP Request,
   or DHCP Release message it receives.

   A DHCPv6 client should retain its configured parameters and resources
   across client system reboots and DHCPv6 client program restarts.
   However, in these circumstances a DHCPv6 client SHOULD also formulate
   a DHCP Request message to verify that its configured parameters and
   resources are still valid.  This Request message MUST have the 'C'
   bit set, to clear client binding information at the server, of which
   the client may no longer have any record.


5.1. DHCP Solicit Message Processing

   If a node wishes to become a new DHCPv6 client, it must first locate
   a neighboring DHCP Agent.  The client does this by multcasting
   a DHCP Solicit message to the well-known multicast address
   FF02:0:0:0:0:0:1:0, setting the TTL == 1.


5.2. DHCP Advertise Message Processing

   When a DHCPv6 client receives a DHCP Advertise message, it may
   formulate a DHCP Request message to receive configuration information
   and resources from the DHCP servers listed in the advertisement.  If
   the Advertise message has zero server addresses and does not have the
   'S' bit set, the client MUST silently discard the message.



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   If the 'S' bit is set, the DHCP Advertise message was transmitted
   by a DHCPv6 server.  In this case, the Advertise message may
   have Extensions; this might allow the DHCPv6 client to select
   the configuration that best meets its needs from among several
   prospective servers.  Also in this case, the client MUST use the
   agent address as the address of its server for future DHCPv6 message
   transactions.


5.3. DHCP Request Message Processing

   A DHCPv6 client obtains configuration information from a DHCPv6
   server by sending a DHCP Request message.  The client must know the
   server's address before sending the Request message.  In addition,
   the client must have acquired a valid DHCP agent address.  If the
   client and server are on the same link, the agent address used by the
   client MUST be the same as the DHCP server's address.

   If the client has no valid IPv6 address and the DHCP server is
   off-link, then the client MUST include the server address in the
   appropriate field of the DHCP Request message and set the 'S' bit.
   In this case, the IPv6 destination address of the Request message
   MUST be the agent address.

   Otherwise, if the client already has a valid IPv6 address and knows
   the IPv6 address of a candidate IPv6 server, it MUST send the Request
   message directly to the DHCPv6 server without requiring the services
   of the local DHCPv6 relay.

   If a client wishes to instruct a DHCP server to deallocate all
   previous resources, configuration information, and bindings
   associated with its agent address and link-local address, it sets the
   'C' bit in the DHCP Request.  A client MAY send in such a Request
   even when it is no longer attached to the link on which the relay
   address is attached.

   A client MAY maintain information about which relay address and
   server address it has been using for use after a reboot.  When
   the client has a pending DHCP Request and reboots before the
   corresponding DHCP Reply is received, the client MUST issue its next
   DHCP Request after rebooting with the 'C' bit set.

   In any case, after choosing a transaction-ID which is numerically
   greater than its previous transaction-ID, and filling in the
   appropriate fields of the DHCP Request message, the client MAY append
   various DHCPv6 Extensions to the message.  These Extensions denote
   specific requests by the client; for example, a client may request
   a particular IP address, or request that the server send an update



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   containing the client's new IP address to a Domain Name Server.  When
   all Extensions have been applied, the DHCPv6 client unicasts the DHCP
   Request to the appropriate DHCP Agent.

   For each pending DHCP Request message, a client MUST maintain the
   following information:

    -  The transaction-ID of the Request message,

    -  The server address,

    -  The agent address,

    -  The time at which the next retransmission will be attempted, and

    -  All Extensions appended to the reply message.

   If a client does not receive a DHCP Reply message with the
   same transaction-ID as a pending DHCP Request message within
   REPLY_MSG_INITIAL_TIMEOUT seconds, it MUST retransmit the Request
   with the same transaction-ID and continue to retransmit according to
   the rules in Section 7.4.

   Note that if a client crashes while its DHCP Request is still
   pending, no state is maintained, and the client MUST reissue a DHCP
   Request after it restarts.


5.4. DHCP Reply Message Processing

   When a client receives a DHCP Reply message, it MUST check whether
   the transaction-ID in the Reply message matches the transaction-ID
   of a pending DHCP Request message.  If no match is found, the Reply
   message MUST be silently discarded, and an error SHOULD be logged.
   If the transaction-ID matches that of a pending Request, and the 'L'
   bit is set, but the source address in the IPv6 header does not match
   the pending agent address, the client MUST discard the message, and
   SHOULD log the event.  Likewise, if the transaction-ID matches that
   of a pending Request, and the 'L' bit is not set, but the source
   address in the IPv6 header does not match the pending server address,
   the client MUST discard the message, and SHOULD log the event.

   If the Reply message is acceptable, the client processes each
   Extension [5], extracting the relevant configuration information and
   parameters for its network operation.

   Some configuration information extracted from the Extensions to the
   DHCP Reply message must remain associated with the DHCP server that



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   sent the message.  The particular extensions that require this extra
   measure of association with the server are indicated in the DHCPv6
   Extensions document [5].  These associations may be useful with DHCP
   Release messages.


5.5. DHCP Release Message Processing

   If a DHCPv6 client determines that some of its network configuration
   parameters are no longer valid, it may enable the DHCPv6 server to
   release allocated resources which are no longer in use by sending a
   DHCP Release message to the server.  The client must consult its list
   of resource-server associations in order to determine which server
   should receive the desired Release message.  If a client wishes to
   ask the server to release all information and resources relevent to
   the client, the client specifies no Extensions.

   A client wishes to release resources which were granted to it at
   another link-local address.  In that case, the client must instruct
   the server to send the DHCP Reply directly back to the client,
   instead of performing the default processing of sending the DHCP
   Reply back through the agent-address included in the DHCP Release.
   This is done by setting the 'D' bit in the DHCP Release message.


5.6. DHCP Reconfigure Message Processing

      DISCUSSION:    On the one hand, clients REALLY SHOULD listen for
                     Reconfigure messages.  On the other hand, some
                     implementors claim that requiring a client to
                     always listen at a port is asking too much.  This
                     issue needs further discussion.

   If a DHCPv6 client receives a DHCP Reconfigure message, it is
   a request for the client to initiate a new DHCP Request/Reply
   transaction with the server which sent the Reconfigure message.
   The server sending the Reconfigure message MAY be different than
   the server which sent a DHCP Reply message containing the original
   configuration information.

   For each Extension which is present in the Reconfigure message, the
   client appends a matching Extension to its DHCP Request message
   which it formulates to send to the DHCPv6 server which is found in
   the IP source address of the message.  The client also selects a
   transaction-ID numerically greater than its last choice and inserts
   it into the Request message.  From then on, processing is the same as
   specified above in Section 5.3.




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6. DHCP Server Considerations

   A server MUST ignore any DHCP Advertise, DHCP Reply, or DHCP
   Reconfigure message it receives.

   A server uses the combination <link-local address, agent address> to
   index into its records of client bindings.  A DHCPv6 server should
   retain its client's bindings across server reboots, and, whenever
   possible, a DHCPv6 client should be assigned the same configuration
   parameters despite server host system reboots and DHCPv6 server
   program restarts.  A DHCPv6 server MUST support fixed or permanent
   allocation of configuration parameters to specific hosts.


6.1. DHCP Solicit and Advertise Message Processing

   Upon receiving a DHCP Solicit message from a client, a server
   constructs a DHCP Advertise message and transmits it to the
   soliciting client on the same link as the solicitation was received
   from.  The destination address of the advertisement MUST be the
   source address of the solicitation.  The DHCP server must use a IPv6
   address of the interface on which it received the client's DHCP
   Solicit message as the source address field of the IPv6 header of the
   message.


6.2. DHCP Request and Reply Message Processing

   The DHCPv6 server MUST check to ensure that a valid link-local
   address is present in the client's link-local address field of the
   Request message.  If not, the message MUST be silently discarded.
   Otherwise, it checks for the presence of the 'S' bit.  If the 'S' bit
   is set, the server MUST check that the server address matches the
   destination IPv6 address at which the Request message was received
   by the server.  If the server address does not match, the Request
   message MUST be silently discarded.

   If the message is accepted, the server extracts the client's
   link-local address and the agent address, and uses the information to
   locate or create an appropriate client record (called a binding) used
   to store all the relevant information, resources, and configuration
   data which will be associated with the client.  Each client record is
   uniquely identifiable by the ordered pair <link-local address, agent
   address>, since the link-local address is guaranteed to be unique [9]
   on the link identified by the agent address.  If the received agent
   address and link-local address do not correspond to any binding known
   to the server, then the server MAY create a new binding for the




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   previously unknown client; otherwise, it SHOULD return a DHCP Reply
   with a error code of 5.

   Before processing the Request, the server must determine whether or
   not the Request is a retransmission of an earlier DHCP Request from
   the same client.  This is done by comparing the transaction-ID to
   all those transaction-IDs received from the same client during the
   previous TRANSACTION_ID_TIMEOUT seconds.  If the transaction-ID is
   the same as one received during that time, the server MUST take the
   same action (e.g., retransmit the same DHCP Reply to the client)
   as it did after processing the previous DHCP Request with the same
   transaction-ID.

   Otherwise (the transaction-ID has not been recently used), when the
   server has identified and allocated all the relevant information,
   resources, and configuration data that is associated with the client,
   it sends that information to its DHCPv6 client by constructing a
   DHCP Reply message and including the client's information in DHCPv6
   Extensions to the Reply message.  The DHCP Reply message uses the
   same transaction-ID as found in the received DHCP Request message.

   If the DHCP Request message has the 'S' bit set in the message
   header, the DHCPv6 server MUST send the corresponding DHCP Reply
   message to the agent address found in the Request.

   The DHCP Request may contain Extensions, which are interpreted
   as advisory (or mandatory) information from the client about its
   configuration preferences.  For instance, if the IP Address Extension
   is present, the DHCPv6 server SHOULD attempt to allocate or extend
   the lifetime of the address indicated by the Extension.


6.3. DHCP Release Message Processing

   If the server receives a DHCP Release Message, it MUST verify that a
   valid link-local address is present in the link-local address field
   of the message.  If not, the message MUST be silently discarded.

   In response to a DHCP Release Message with a valid link-local
   address, the DHCPv6 server formulates a DHCP Reply message that
   will be sent back to the releasing client by way of the client's
   link-local address.  A DHCP Reply message sent in response to a DHCP
   Release message MUST be sent to the client's link-local address via
   the agent address in the Release message and set the 'L' bit in the
   Reply, (unless the 'D' bit is set in the Release message).






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   If the received agent address and link-local address do not
   correspond to any binding known to the server, then the server SHOULD
   return a DHCP Reply with a error code of 5.

   Otherwise, if the agent address and link-local address indicate a
   binding known to the server, then the server continues processing
   for the Release message.  If there are any Extensions, the server
   releases the particular configuration items specified in the
   extensions.  Otherwise, if there are no extensions, the server
   releases all configuration information in the client's binding.

   After performing the operations indicated in the DHCP Release
   message and its Extensions, the DHCPv6 server formulates a DHCP
   Reply message, copying the transaction-ID, from the DHCP Release
   message.  For each Extension in the DHCP Release message successfully
   processed by the server, a matching Extension is appended to the DHCP
   Reply message.  Extensions in the DHCP Release message which cannot
   be successfully processed by the server MUST NOT correspond to any
   Extension appended to the Reply by the server.


6.4. DHCP Reconfigure Message Processing

   If a DHCPv6 server needs to change the configuration associated
   to any of its clients, it constructs a DHCP Reconfigure message
   and sends it to each such client.  The Reconfigure message MUST
   contain the particular Extensions which inform the client about which
   configuration information needs to be changed.

      DISCUSSION:    Perhaps a DHCPv6 server should be allowed to
                     multicast a DHCP Reconfigure message to its
                     clients.  There are issues to be resolved here.
                     There is concern about encouraging servers to send
                     such messages to any DHCP-wide multicast address.

                     Perhaps a new extension should be defined so that
                     the server can ask (some of) its clients to join a
                     specific multicast group.  Then the server could
                     efficiently multicast Reconfigure messages to
                     whatever group it wants.

                     This would have the additional advantage that
                     clients could receive Reconfigure messages without
                     listening to any specific UDP port.

                     If multiple clients can receive the same
                     Reconfigure message, some algorithm must be
                     specified so that the clients stagger their



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                     responses (i.e., their DHCP Requests) so that
                     the server isn't deluged all at once with some
                     arbitrarily large number of client Requests.


7. DHCP Relay Considerations

   The DHCPv6 protocol is constructed so that a relay does not have
   to maintain any state in order to facilitate DHCPv6 client/server
   interactions.

   All relays MUST use the IPv6 address of the interface from which the
   DHCPv6 message is transmitted as the source address for the IP header
   of that DHCPv6 message.


7.1. DHCP Solicit and DHCP Advertise Message Processing

   Upon receiving a DHCP Solicit message from a client, a relay
   constructs a DHCP Advertise message and transmits it to the
   soliciting client on the same link as the solicitation was received
   from.  The destination address of the advertisement MUST be the
   source address of the solicitation.

      DISCUSSION:    If the Solicit is delivered to a server and
                     the server is allowed to send the corresponding
                     Advertise back to a client, the server could then
                     include some prospective information to "entice" a
                     client to use its services.  For instance, a server
                     could include proposed lifetime information, and a
                     client could pick the server with the best "terms".
                     Presumably, this forwarding behavior should be a
                     matter of relay configuration instead of client
                     request.  I'll assume that for now and try to make
                     the protocol reflect the ability of DHCP Advertise
                     messages to contain Extensions and come from DHCP
                     servers off-link.  That may take a little more
                     doing which isn't in the protocol right now, be
                     patient.

   When transmitting a DHCP Advertise message, a relay indicates how
   many server addresses which it was configured to advertise, and
   includes each address in the DHCP Advertise message.  The DHCP
   Advertise message must use a routeable IPv6 address in the source
   address of the IPv6 header of the message.  In particular, the source
   address of any DHCP Advertise message sent by a DHCPv6 relay MUST NOT
   be a link-local address.




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7.2. DHCP Request Message Processing

   When a relay receives a DHCP Request message, it MUST check that the
   message is received from a link-local address, that the link-local
   address matches the link-local address field in the Request message
   header, and that the agent address field of the message matches an
   IPv6 address associated to the interface from which the DHCP Request
   message was received.  The relay MUST also check whether the 'S'
   bit is set in the message header.  If any of these checks fail, the
   message is not acceptable and MUST be silently discarded.

   If the received request message is acceptable, the relay then
   transmits the DHCP Request message to the DHCPv6 server found in the
   Server Address field of the received DHCP Request message.  All of
   the fields of DHCP Request message header transmitted by the relay
   are copied over unchanged from the DHCP Request received from the
   client.  Only the fields in the IPv6 header will differ from the
   datagram received from the client, not the payload.


7.3. DHCP Reply Message Processing

   When the relay receives a DHCP Reply, it MUST check whether the
   message has the 'L' bit set.  It must check whether the link-local
   address field contains an IPv6 address that has prefix FE80::00 .
   If all the checks are satisfied, the relay MUST send a DHCP Reply
   message to the link-local address listed in the received Reply
   message.  Only the fields in the IPv6 header will differ from the
   datagram received from the server, not the payload.


7.4. Retransmission and Configuation Variables

   When a DHCPv6 client does not receive a DHCP Reply in response to a
   pending DHCP Request, the client MUST retransmit the identical DHCP
   Request to the same server again until it can be reasonably sure that
   the DHCPv6 server is unavailable and an alternative can be chosen.
   It is important for the DHCP Server to be sure that its client has
   received the configuration information included with the Extensions
   to the DHCP Reply message.

   Likewise, but less commonly, when a DHCP server does not receive a
   DHCP Request message in response to its DHCP Reconfigure message to
   the client, the server MUST retransmit the identical DHCP Reconfigure
   to the client until it is reasonably certain that the client is not
   available for reconfiguration.  If no corresponding DHCP Request
   is ever received by the server, the server MAY erase or deallocate
   information as needed from the client's binding.



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   These retransmissions occur using the following configuration
   variables for a DHCPv6 implementation that MUST be configurable by a
   client or server are as follows:

      REPLY_MSG_INITIAL_TIMEOUT

         The time in seconds that a DHCPv6 client waits to receive a
         server's DHCP Reply before retransmitting a DHCP Request.

         Default:  2 seconds.

      REPLY_MSG_MIN_RETRANS

         The minimum number of DHCP Request transmissions that a DHCPv6
         client should retransmit, before aborting the request, possibly
         retrying the Request with another Server, and logging DHCPv6
         System Error.

         Default:  10 retransmissions.

      RECONF_MSG_INITIAL_TIMEOUT

         The time in seconds that a DHCPv6 server waits to receive
         a client's DHCP Request before retransmitting its DHCP
         Reconfigure.

         Default:  2 seconds.

      RECONF_MSG_MIN_RETRANS

         The minimum number of DHCP Reconfigure messages that a DHCPv6
         server should retransmit, before assuming the the client is
         unavailable and that the server can proceed with the needed
         reconfiguration of that client's resources, and logging DHCPv6
         System Error.

         Default:  10 retransmissions.

   The following parameter specifies how long a DHCPv6 server has to
   keep track of client transaction-IDs in order to make sure that
   client retransmissions using the same transaction-ID are idempotent.

      TRANSACTION_IT_TIMEOUT

         Default:  10800 seconds






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8. Security Considerations

   It may often be very important for DHCP clients and servers to be
   able to authenticate the messages they exchange.  For instance, a
   DHCP server may wish to be certain that a DHCP Request originated
   from the client identified by the <link-local address, agent address>
   fields included within the Request message header.  Conversely,
   it is often essential for a DHCP client to be certain that the
   configuration parameters and addresses it has received were sent to
   it by an authoritative DHCP server.  Similarly, a DHCP server should
   only accept a DHCP Release message which seems to be from one of
   its clients, if it has some assurance that the client actually did
   transmit the Release message.  At the time of this writing, there
   is no generally accepted mechanism useful with DHCPv4 that can be
   extended for use with DHCPv6.

   There has been some discussion about the advisability and
   desirability of using IPv6 Authentication to allow DHCPv6 clients
   and servers to authenticate messages which they exchange.  However,
   in many circumstances a client has only a link-local address, and a
   link-local address cannot be forwarded to a server which is off-link.
   Thus, the DHCP relay _has_to be involved, for instance, with the DHCP
   Request when the client has only a link-local address, and therefore
   the DHCP Request (in this circumstance) MUST have the relay's address
   in the IPv6 destination address field.

   That means that the authentication (in this circumstance) CANNOT be
   end-to-end.  That means that IPsec cannot apply.  Thus, in order to
   authenticate DHCP Request messages in many circumstances will require
   a more specialized technique for message authentication, as specified
   in the DHCPv6 Extensions companion document [5].

   One possibility is to allow relays to encapsulate the DHCP Request
   before delivery to the server.  Then the client could apply
   end-to-end authentication (such as afforded by IPSec) which would
   nevertheless remain untouched by the relay.  The relay could, if
   desired, apply its own authentication header to the encapsulated
   datagrams.


9. Acknowledgements

   Thanks to the DHC Working Group for their time and input into the
   specification.  A special thanks for the consistent input, ideas,
   and review by (in alphabetical order) Brian Carpenter, Ralph Droms,
   Thomas Narten, Jack McCann, Yakov Rekhter, Matt Thomas, Sue Thomson,
   and Phil Wells.




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   Thanks to Steve Deering and Bob Hinden, who have consistently
   taken the time to discuss the more complex parts of the IPv6
   specifications.

   The authors MUST also thank their employers for the opportunity and
   funding to work on DHCPv6 and IPv6 in general as an individual in the
   IETF.


A. Related Work in IPv6

   The related work in IPv6 that would best serve an implementor
   to study is the IPv6 Specification [2], the IPv6 Addressing
   Architecture [3], IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration [9], IPv6
   Neighbor Discovery Processing [4], and Dynamic Updates to DNS [10].
   These specifications afford DHCPv6 to build upon the IPv6 work to
   provide both robust stateful autoconfiguration and autoregistration
   of DNS Host Names.

   The IPv6 Specification provides the base architecture and design of
   IPv6.  A key point for DHCPv6 implementors to understand is that IPv6
   requires that every link in the internet have an MTU of 576 octets or
   greater (in IPv4 the requirement is 68 octets).  This means that a
   UDP datagram of 536 octets will always pass through an internet (less
   40 octets for the IPv6 header), as long as there are no IP options
   prior to the UDP header in the datagram.  But, IPv6 does not support
   fragmentation at routers and fragmentation must take place end-to-end
   between hosts.  If a DHCPv6 implementation needs to send a datagram
   greater than 536 octets it can either fragment the UDP datagram
   in UDP or use Path MTU Discovery [2] to determine the size of the
   datagram that will traverse a network path.  It is implementation
   defined how this is accomplished in DHCPv6.

   The IPv6 Addressing Architecture Specification provides the address
   scope that can be used in an IPv6 implementation, and the various
   configuration architecture guidelines for network designers of
   the IPv6 address space.  Two advantages of IPv6 is that multicast
   addressing is well defined and nodes can create link-local addresses
   during initialization of the nodes environment.  This means that a
   host immediately can configure an IPv6 address at initialization
   for an interface, before communicating in any manner on the link.
   The host can then use a well-known multicast address to begin
   communications to discover neighbors on the link, or as was discussed
   in the specification to locate a DHCPv6 server or relay.

   The IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration Specification [9]
   defines how a host can autoconfigure addresses based on neighbor
   discovery router advertisements, and the use of a validation lifetime



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   to support renumbering of addresses on the Internet.  In addition the
   addrconf specification defines the protocol interaction for a host to
   begin stateless or stateful autoconfiguration.  DHCPv6 is one vehicle
   to perform stateful autoconfiguration.  Compatibility with addrconf
   is a design goal of DHCPv6.

   IPv6 Neighbor Discovery (ND) [4] is the node discovery protocol in
   IPv6 (replaces and enhances functions of IPv4 ARP Model [6]).  To
   truly understand IPv6 and addrconf it is strongly recommended that
   implementors understand IPv6 ND.

   Dynamic Updates to DNS [10] is a specification that supports the
   dynamic update of DNS records for both IPv4 and IPv6.  DHCPv6 can use
   the dynamic updates to DNS to now integrate addresses and name space
   to not only support autoconfiguration, but also autoregistration in
   IPv6.


B. Change History

B.1. Changes from November 95 to February 96 Drafts

   Substituted use of client's link-local address for previous uses of
   client's interface token.

   Reorganized DHCP messages into Solicit/Advertise, Request/Reply,
   Release, and Reconfigure.

   Made message-specific formats instead of using the same DHCP header
   for each message.

   Eliminated retransmission message types.

   Server commits after receiving DHCP Request, and optimistically
   depends on client retransmissions as negative acknowledgement.

   Eliminated total-addrs.

   Eliminated all definitions and most fields related to allocating IPv6
   addresses (moved to the Extensions specification).

   Renamed "gateway address" to be "agent address".









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References

    [1] S. Bradner and A. Mankin.  The Recommendation for the IP Next
        Generation Protocol.  RFC 1752, January 1995.

    [2] S. Deering and R. Hinden.  Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6)
        Specification.  RFC 1883, December 1995.

    [3] R. Hinden and S. Deering.  IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture.
        RFC 1883, December 1995.

    [4] T. Narten, E. Nordmark, and W. Simpson.  IPv6 Neighbor
        Discovery.  draft-ietf-ipngwg-discovery-03.txt -- work in
        progress, November 1995.

    [5] C. Perkins.  Extensions to DHCPv6.  draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6ext-00.txt
        -- work in progress, November 1995.

    [6] David C. Plummer.  An Ethernet Address Resolution Protocol:
        Or Converting Network Protocol Addresses to 48.bit Ethernet
        Addresses for Transmission on Ethernet Hardware.  RFC 826,
        November 1982.

    [7] J. B. Postel.  User Datagram Protocol.  RFC 768, August 1980.

    [8] J. B. Postel, editor.  Internet Protocol.  RFC 791, September
        1981.

    [9] S. Thomson and T. Narten.  IPv6 Stateless Address
        Autoconfiguration.  draft-ietf-addrconf-ipv6-auto-06.txt
        - work in progress, November 1995.

   [10] S. Thomson, Y. Rekhter, and J. Bound.  Dynamic Updates in the
        Domain Name System (DNS).  draft-ietf-dnsind-dynDNS-06.txt --
        work in progress, February 1996.
















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Chair's Address

   The working group can be contacted via the current chair:


   Ralph Droms
   Computer Science Department
   323 Dana Engineering
   Bucknell University
   Lewisburg, PA 17837

   Phone: (717) 524-1145
   E-mail: droms@bucknell.edu



Author's Address

   Questions about this memo can be directed to:


   Jim Bound                            Charles Perkins
   Digital Equipment Corporation        T. J. Watson Research Center
   110 Spitbrook Road, ZKO3-3/U14       IBM Corporation
   Nashua, NH 03062                     30 Saw Mill River Rd., Rm J1-A25
                                        Hawthorne, NY  10532
   Phone: +1-603-881-0400               +1-914-784-7350
   Fax:                                 +1-914-784-6205
   E-mail: bound@zk3.dec.com            perk@watson.ibm.com






















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