Network Working Group T. Chown
Internet-Draft University of Southampton
Intended status: Informational M. Eubanks
Expires: November 6, 2011 Iformata Communications
R. Parekh
G. Van de Velde
S. Venaas
cisco Systems
May 5, 2011
Multicast Addresses for Documentation
draft-ietf-mboned-mcaddrdoc-00.txt
Abstract
This document discusses which multicast addresses should be used for
documentation purposes and reserves multicast addresses for such use.
Some multicast addresses are derived from AS numbers or unicast
addresses. This document also explains how these can be used for
documentation purposes.
Status of this Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
This Internet-Draft will expire on November 6, 2011.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
Chown, et al. Expires November 6, 2011 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft Multicast Addresses for Documentation May 2011
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. IPv4 multicast documentation addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1. Administratively scoped IPv4 multicast addresses . . . . . 4
2.2. GLOP multicast addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3. Unicast prefix based IPv4 multicast addresses . . . . . . 4
3. IPv6 multicast documentation addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.1. Unicast prefix based IPv6 multicast addresses . . . . . . 5
3.2. Embedded-RP IPv6 multicast addresses . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
7. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Chown, et al. Expires November 6, 2011 [Page 2]
Internet-Draft Multicast Addresses for Documentation May 2011
1. Introduction
It is often useful in documentation, IETF documents, etc., to provide
examples containing IP multicast addresses. For documentation where
examples of general purpose multicast addresses are needed, one
should use multicast addresses that never will be assigned or in
actual use. There is a risk that addresses used in examples may
accidentally be used. It is then important that the same addresses
are not used by other multicast applications or services. It may
also be beneficial to filter out such addresses from multicast
signalling and multicast data sent to such addresses.
For unicast there are both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses reserved for this
purpose, see [RFC5737] and [RFC3849] respectively. This document
reserves multicast addresses for this purpose.
There are also some multicast addresses that are derived from AS
numbers or unicast addresses. For examples where such addresses are
desired, one should derive them from the AS numbers and unicast
addresses reserved for documentation purposes. This document also
discusses the use of these.
Chown, et al. Expires November 6, 2011 [Page 3]
Internet-Draft Multicast Addresses for Documentation May 2011
2. IPv4 multicast documentation addresses
The type of multicast addresses most commonly used today, are
addresses used for so-called ASM (Any-Source Multicast). For ASM,
the IPv4 multicast addresses allocated for documentation purposes are
233.252.0.0 - 233.252.0.255 (233.252.0.0/24).
Another type of multicast is SSM (Source-Specific Multicast). For
SSM it is less important which multicast addresses are used, since a
host/application joins a channel identified by both source and group.
Any source addresses used in SSM examples should be unicast addresses
reserved for documentation purposes, see [RFC5737].
Sometimes one wants to give examples where a specific type of address
is desired. E.g. for text about multicast scoping, one might want
the examples to use addresses that are to be used for administrative
scoping. See below for guidance on how to construct specific types
of example addresses.
2.1. Administratively scoped IPv4 multicast addresses
Administratively scoped IPv4 multicast addresses [RFC2365] are
reserved for scoped multicast. They can be used within a site or an
organization. Apart from a small set of scope relative addresses,
these addresses are not assigned. There are no specific scoped
addresses available for documentation purposes. Except for examples
detailing the use of scoped multicast, one should avoid using them.
2.2. GLOP multicast addresses
GLOP [RFC3180] is a method for deriving IPv4 multicast group
addresses from 16 bit AS numbers. For examples where GLOP addresses
are desired, the addresses should be derived from the AS numbers
reserved for documentation use. See [RFC5398].
2.3. Unicast prefix based IPv4 multicast addresses
IPv4 multicast addresses can be derived from IPv4 unicast prefixes,
see [RFC6034]. For examples where this type of addresses are
desired, the addresses should be derived from the unicast addresses
reserved for documentation purposes, see [RFC5737].
Chown, et al. Expires November 6, 2011 [Page 4]
Internet-Draft Multicast Addresses for Documentation May 2011
3. IPv6 multicast documentation addresses
The type of multicast addresses most commonly used today, are
addresses used for so-called ASM (Any-Source Multicast). For ASM,
the IPv6 multicast addresses allocated for documentation purposes are
TBD.
Another type of multicast is SSM (Source-Specific Multicast). For
SSM it is less important which multicast addresses are used, since a
host/application joins a channel identified by both source and group.
Any source addresses used in SSM examples should be unicast addresses
reserved for documentation purposes, see [RFC3849].
Sometimes one wants to give examples where a specific type of address
is desired. E.g. for text about multicast scoping, one might want
the examples to use addresses that are to be used for administrative
scoping. See below for guidance on how to construct specific types
of example addresses.
3.1. Unicast prefix based IPv6 multicast addresses
IPv6 multicast addresses can be derived from IPv6 unicast prefixes,
see [RFC3306]. For examples where this type of addresses is desired,
the addresses should be derived from the unicast addresses reserved
for documentation purposes, see [RFC3849].
3.2. Embedded-RP IPv6 multicast addresses
There is a type of IPv6 multicast addresses called Embedded-RP
addresses where the IPv6 address of a Rendezvous-Point is embedded
inside the multicast address, see [RFC3956]. For examples where this
type of addresses is desired, the addresses should be derived from
the unicast addresses reserved for documentation purposes, see see
[RFC3849].
Chown, et al. Expires November 6, 2011 [Page 5]
Internet-Draft Multicast Addresses for Documentation May 2011
4. Security Considerations
The use of specific multicast addresses for documentation purposes
has no impact on security.
Chown, et al. Expires November 6, 2011 [Page 6]
Internet-Draft Multicast Addresses for Documentation May 2011
5. IANA Considerations
IANA is requested to assign "variable scope" IPv6 multicast addresses
for documentation purposes. This should be a /96 prefix of the form
FF0X:...
Chown, et al. Expires November 6, 2011 [Page 7]
Internet-Draft Multicast Addresses for Documentation May 2011
6. Acknowledgments
The authors thank Roberta Maglione for providing comments on this
document.
Chown, et al. Expires November 6, 2011 [Page 8]
Internet-Draft Multicast Addresses for Documentation May 2011
7. Informative References
[RFC2365] Meyer, D., "Administratively Scoped IP Multicast", BCP 23,
RFC 2365, July 1998.
[RFC3180] Meyer, D. and P. Lothberg, "GLOP Addressing in 233/8",
BCP 53, RFC 3180, September 2001.
[RFC3306] Haberman, B. and D. Thaler, "Unicast-Prefix-based IPv6
Multicast Addresses", RFC 3306, August 2002.
[RFC3307] Haberman, B., "Allocation Guidelines for IPv6 Multicast
Addresses", RFC 3307, August 2002.
[RFC3849] Huston, G., Lord, A., and P. Smith, "IPv6 Address Prefix
Reserved for Documentation", RFC 3849, July 2004.
[RFC3956] Savola, P. and B. Haberman, "Embedding the Rendezvous
Point (RP) Address in an IPv6 Multicast Address",
RFC 3956, November 2004.
[RFC5398] Huston, G., "Autonomous System (AS) Number Reservation for
Documentation Use", RFC 5398, December 2008.
[RFC5737] Arkko, J., Cotton, M., and L. Vegoda, "IPv4 Address Blocks
Reserved for Documentation", RFC 5737, January 2010.
[RFC6034] Thaler, D., "Unicast-Prefix-Based IPv4 Multicast
Addresses", RFC 6034, October 2010.
Chown, et al. Expires November 6, 2011 [Page 9]
Internet-Draft Multicast Addresses for Documentation May 2011
Authors' Addresses
Tim Chown
University of Southampton
Highfield
Southampton, Hampshire SO17 1BJ
United Kingdom
Email: tjc@ecs.soton.ac.uk
Marshall Eubanks
Iformata Communications
130 W. Second Street
Dayton, Ohio 45402
US
Phone: +1 703 501 4376
Email: marshall.eubanks@iformata.com
URI: http://www.iformata.com/
Rishabh Parekh
cisco Systems
Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA 95134
USA
Email: riparekh@cisco.com
Gunter Van de Velde
cisco Systems
De Kleetlaan 6a
Diegem 1831
Belgium
Phone: +32 476 476 022
Email: gvandeve@cisco.com
Chown, et al. Expires November 6, 2011 [Page 10]
Internet-Draft Multicast Addresses for Documentation May 2011
Stig Venaas
cisco Systems
Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA 95134
USA
Email: stig@cisco.com
Chown, et al. Expires November 6, 2011 [Page 11]