ROAMOPS Working Group                                    Bernard Aboba
     INTERNET-DRAFT                                   Microsoft Corporation
     <draft-ietf-roamops-dnsrr-03.txt >
     7 March 1997
     
     
           The Roaming Relationship (REL) Resource Record in the DNS
     
     
     1.  Status of this Memo
     
     This document is an Internet-Draft.  Internet-Drafts are working docu-
     ments of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF),  its  areas,  and
     its  working groups.  Note that other groups may also distribute work-
     ing 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  mate-
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     To  learn  the  current status of any Internet-Draft, please check the
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     The  distribution  of  this memo is unlimited.  It is filed as <draft-
     ietf-roamops-dnsrr-03.txt>, and  expires September 15,  1997.   Please
     send comments to the authors.
     
     
     2.  Abstract
     
     This  document  describes  the  use  of the Roaming Relationship (REL)
     record in the DNS for the description of  roaming  relationships.  REL
     resource  records may be used for determining the existence of a roam-
     ing relationship path between  the  local  ISP  and  the  user's  home
     domain,  as  well  as the location of an appropriate accounting agent.
     However, unless the roaming relationship path is authenticated by some
     method  (such  as  via  tokens  or  certificates  returned by the home
     authentication server), hierarchical authentication  routing  must  be
     used in order to validate the path.
     
     
     3.  Introduction
     
     Considerable  interest  has  arisen recently in a set of features that
     fit within the general category of  "roaming  capability"  for  dialup
     Internet users.  Interested parties have included:
     
          Regional  Internet  Service  Providers  (ISPs) operating within a
          particular state or province, looking to  combine  their  efforts
          with  those  of  other regional providers to offer dialup service
          over a wider area.
     
     
     
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          National ISPs wishing to combine their operations with  those  of
          one  or  more  ISPs in another nation to offer more comprehensive
          dialup service in a group of countries or on a continent.
     
          Businesses desiring to  offer  their  employees  a  comprehensive
          package of dialup services on a global basis.  Those services may
          include Internet access as well as  secure  access  to  corporate
          intranets via a Virtual Private Network (VPN), enabled by tunnel-
          ing protocols such as PPTP, L2F, or L2TP.
     
     This document describes the use  of  the  Roaming  Relationship  (REL)
     record  in  the  DNS for the description of roaming relationships. REL
     resource records may be used for determining the existence of a  roam-
     ing  relationship  path  between  the  local  ISP  and the user's home
     domain, as well as the location of an  appropriate  accounting  agent.
     However, unless the roaming relationship path is authenticated by some
     method (such as via  tokens  or  certificates  returned  by  the  home
     authentication  server),  hierarchical  authentication routing must be
     used in order to validate the path.
     
     
     3.1.  Terminology
     
     This document frequently uses the following terms:
     
     roaming relationship path
               The roaming relationship path is the series of roaming rela-
               tionships  that  link  together  a local ISP and user's home
               domain. The roaming relationship path may or may not be  the
               same  as  the authentication route, depending on whether the
               local proxy is able to directly contact the home authentica-
               tion server.
     
     authentication route
               The  route  that  an  authentication  will take in traveling
               between the local ISP's authentication proxy  and  the  home
               authentication  server. Where RADIUS proxy authentication is
               used, the authentication route follows the roaming relation-
               ship path.
     
     Network Access Server
               The  Network  Access Server (NAS) is the device that clients
               dial in order to get access to the network.
     
     RADIUS server
               This is a server which  provides  for  authentication/autho-
               rization via the protocol described in [3], and for account-
               ing as described in [4].
     
     RADIUS proxy
               In order to provide for the routing of RADIUS authentication
               and accounting requests, a RADIUS proxy may employed. To the
               NAS, the RADIUS proxy appears to act as a RADIUS server, and
               to  the  RADIUS server, the proxy appears to act as a RADIUS
     
     
     
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               client.
     
     RADIUS domain
               In order to provide for the routing of RADIUS authentication
               and accounting requests, the userID field used in PPP and in
               the  subsequent   RADIUS   authentication   and   accounting
               requests,  may  contain structure. This structure provides a
               means by which the  RADIUS  proxy  will  locate  the  RADIUS
               server that is to receive the request.
     
     
     3.2.  Requirements language
     
     This  specification  uses the same words as [14] for defining the sig-
     nificance of each particular requirement.  These words are:
     
     
     MUST      This word, or the adjectives "REQUIRED"  or  "SHALL",  means
               that the definition is an absolute requirement of the speci-
               fication.
     
     MUST NOT  This phrase, or the phrase "SHALL NOT", means that the defi-
               nition 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  a particular item, but the full implications must be
               understood and carefully weighed before choosing a different
               course.
     
     SHOULD NOT
               This phrase means that there may exist valid reasons in par-
               ticular  circumstances  when  the  particular  behavior   is
               acceptable  or even useful, but the full implications should
               be understood and the case carefully weighed  before  imple-
               menting any behavior described with this label.
     
     MAY       This  word,  or the adjective "OPTIONAL", means that an item
               is truly optional.  One vendor may  choose  to  include  the
               item because a particular marketplace requires it or because
               the vendor feels that it enhances the product while  another
               vendor may omit the same item.  An implementation which does
               not include a particular option MUST be prepared to interop-
               erate  with  another  implementation  which does include the
               option, though perhaps with reduced  functionality.  In  the
               same  vein an implementation which does include a particular
               option MUST be prepared to interoperate with another  imple-
               mentation  which  does  not  include  the option.(except, of
               course, for the feature the option provides)
     
     An implementation is not compliant if it fails to satisfy one or  more
     of  the must or must not requirements for the protocols it implements.
     An implementation that satisfies all the must, must  not,  should  and
     should   not   requirements   for   its   protocols   is  said  to  be
     
     
     
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     "unconditionally compliant"; one that satisfies all the must and  must
     not requirements but not all the should or should not requirements for
     its protocols is said to be "conditionally compliant."
     
     
     4.  The Roaming Relationship (REL) Record
     
     In order to enable roaming, it is necessary for a local provider to be
     able  to  determine whether a roaming relationship path exists between
     itself and the user's home domain, so as to enable the local  provider
     to  be  paid for the use of its resources. These roaming relationships
     are typically of two types: the relationship  between  a  firm  and  a
     provider,  in  which  the  firm  delegates  roaming  authority  to the
     provider; or the relationship between a provider and a roaming associ-
     ation, in which the provider agrees to allow members of the consortium
     to access its network resources, in exchange  for  compensation.  How-
     ever,  it is also possible for a company or even an individual to form
     a direct relationship with a roaming consortia, or  for  consortia  to
     form a relationship with another consortia.
     
     Inter-domain  roaming  relationships may extend to several levels. For
     example, BIGCO may delegate roaming authority to ISPA, who may in turn
     join  roaming  association  ISPGROUP.   When  Fred dials into ISPB and
     attempts to authenticate as fred@bigco.com, it is necessary  for  ISPB
     to  determine  whether it has a means for being paid for the resources
     consumed by Fred. This is accomplished by tracing the web  of  roaming
     relationships  backwards from the bigco.com domain, in order to deter-
     mine whether a path of roaming relationships exists between  ISPB  and
     BIGCO.
     
     Please note that the task of determining the path of roaming relation-
     ships is orthogonal to the  issue  of  authentication  routing.  Where
     authentication  proxy  chaining  is  used,  authentication  routing is
     required in order to improve scalability.  However,  when  public  key
     authentication  is  available,  it  is  possible for an authentication
     proxy to directly contact  a  home  authentication  server.   However,
     regardless  of how the authentication is routed, it is still necessary
     for the local ISP to determine the path of  roaming  relationships  so
     that it can determine whether it can be paid for the transaction.
     
     The  purpose  of  the Roaming Relationship (REL) resource record is to
     document inter-domain roaming relationships. When hierarchical authen-
     tication  routing  is  being  used, REL resource records are typically
     retrieved by the local ISP's authentication proxy, and used  both  for
     determination  of  the roaming relationship path as well as for use in
     authentication routing. If public  key  authentication  technology  is
     available, it may be possible for the local ISP's authentication proxy
     to contact the home domain's authentication server directly.  In  this
     case,  hierarchical  authentication  routing will not be required, and
     the home authentication server may return tokens  or  certificates  in
     order to validate the roaming relationship path. If this is done, then
     the local ISP's authentication proxy may not need to look up  any  REL
     resource  records itself, and as a result, the total time required for
     the authentication will be decreased. This will lessen the probability
     
     
     
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     of a timeout.
     
     
     4.1.  REL resource record RDATA format
     
     The RDATA for a REL resource record is as follows:
     
     0                   1                   2                   3
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |              Preference       |              Flags            |
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     /                                                               /
     /                            Domain                             /
     /                                                               /
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     
     
     4.1.1.  Preference
     
     The  Preference  field,  which is two octets, specifies the preference
     given to this record versus other records of the same type and  owner.
     Lower values are preferred.
     
     
     4.1.2.  Flags
     
     The flags field, which is two octets, is as follows:
     0                   1
     0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     |U P C A I F H R R R R R R R R R|
     +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
     
     U  = User. If U=1, then the REL resource record represents an individ-
     ual user or account. The user name is represented the same way  as  in
     the  SOA  or  RP resource records. As a result, fred@bigco.com will be
     represented as fred.bigco.com. Since the DNS was not intended for  use
     as  a user database, it is expected that this flag will only be set on
     rare occasions.
     
     P = Provider. If P=1, then the REL resource record represents  delega-
     tion  of  roaming authority from a non-ISP to an ISP or a roaming con-
     sortia.
     
     C = Consortia. If C=1, then the REL resource record represents delega-
     tion of roaming authority from an ISP to a roaming consortia.
     
     A  =  Accounting  agent. If A=1, then a accounting agent exists within
     the domain.
     
     I = Internet access. If I=1, then the REL resource record may be  used
     for  provisioning of Internet access. In roaming applications this bit
     MUST be set.
     
     
     
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     F = Fax. If F=1, then the REL resource record may be used  for  provi-
     sioning of Internet fax.
     
     H = H.323. If H=1, then the REL resource record may be used for provi-
     sioning of H.323 conferencing.
     
     R = Reserved.
     
     
     4.1.3.  Domain
     
     The domain field represents the domain name to which roaming authority
     has been delegated by the owner name.
     
     
     4.2.  Use of the Roaming Relationship (REL) Resource Record
     
     The  Roaming Relationship (REL) resource record uses semantics similar
     to that of the Mail Exchange (MX) record, in that it includes a prior-
     ity  as  well  as the domain to which roaming authority has been dele-
     gated. The REL resource record is of the form:
     
     bigco.com.  IN REL 10 (; priority
                 ispa.com.  ;domain with roaming authority
                 P I        ;flags. P = Provider, I = Internet Access
                 )
     
     Here 10 refers to  the  priority  of  the  REL  resource  record,  and
     ispa.com  is the domain to which BIGCO has delegated roaming responsi-
     bilities. The use of a priority field allows multiple relationships to
     be represented, with authenticating ISPs checking the relationships in
     ascending order of priority. Thus, an REL resource record of  priority
     10  would  be  checked before a REL resource record of priority 20. As
     described in the previous section, letters are  used  to  denote  flag
     bits.
     
     Routes  for a given domain SHOULD be given different priorities, so as
     to allow for predictable behavior. Since routes at the  same  priority
     will  be  round-robined,  this  will  result in alternation of routes.
     Unless there is a good reason for balancing the load  this  way,  this
     approach SHOULD NOT be used.
     
     
     5.  Examples
     
     
     5.1.  Example One
     
     Let  us  assume that Fred is an employee of BIGCO, who has established
     roaming relationships with ISPA and ISPC, both of which are members of
     roaming consortia ISPGROUP1. BIGCO also has a relationship with clear-
     ing houses ISPGROUP2 and ISPGROUP3. ISPB is a member of the  ISPGROUP1
     roaming consortia.
     
     
     
     
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     The REL resource records for BIGCO appear as follows:
     
     bigco.com. IN REL 10 ispa.com.         P I
     bigco.com. IN REL 20 ispc.com.         P I
     bigco.com. IN REL 30 ispgroup3.com.    P I
     bigco.com. IN REL 40 ispgroup2.com.    P I
     
     The  REL  resource  records for ISPA, ISPB, ISPC, ISPGROUP1, ISPGROUP2
     and ISPGROUP3 appear as follows:
     
     ispa.com. IN REL 10 ispgroup1.com.      C I
     
     ispb.com. IN REL 10 ispgroup1.com.      C I
     
     ispc.com. IN REL 10 ispgroup1.com.      C I
     
     ispgroup1.com. IN REL 10 ispgroup1.com. C I A
     
     ispgroup2.com. IN REL 10 ispgroup2.com. C I A
     
     ispgroup3.com. IN REL 10 ispgroup3.com. C I A
     
     
     5.1.1.  Sequence of events
     
     Fred logs into ISPB as fred@bigco.com; as a result the ISPB  authenti-
     cation  proxy  receives  this  NAI.  ISPB's authentication proxy first
     checks for the presence of a user record for  fred.bigco.com.  If  so,
     then it retrieves the REL resource records for the domain to whom Fred
     has delegated roaming authority. If there is no user record,  then  it
     checks  its configuration files to see whether bigco.com is one of the
     domains with whom it has a direct  roaming  relationship.  This  check
     will fail since BIGCO has no direct roaming relationship with ISPB. As
     a result, ISPB's  authentication  proxy  will  need  to  retrieve  REL
     resource records either from its own cache or from the bigco.com zone.
     
     Assuming that ISPB's authentication proxy does not support public  key
     authentication, then hierarchical authentication routing will be used.
     In this case, ISPB's authentication proxy will need  to  retrieve  REL
     resource  records  from  the bigco.com zone.  If ISPB's authentication
     proxy supports public key authentication and ISPEC, then  rather  than
     immediately retrieving REL resource records, it will retrieve the SRV,
     KEY and SIG resource records for the bigco.com  zone.  Using  the  SRV
     resource  record, ISPB's authentication proxy can locate the authenti-
     cation proxy for the bigco.com domain. The SIG  resource  records  for
     the bigco.com zone can then be retrieved in order to determine whether
     the bigco.com authentication server supports  public  key  authentica-
     tion.  If  so,  then  ISPB's  authentication  proxy  may  contact  the
     bigco.com authentication server directly. In its authentication reply,
     the  bigco.com  authentication  server  may  return  the  REL resource
     records for its zone as well as those of the zones  to  which  it  has
     delegated  roaming  authority,  in  the  form of attributes within the
     Access-Reply. If so, then ISPB's authentication proxy  will  be  saved
     the  work of having to retrieve these resource records itself prior to
     
     
     
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     forwarding the authentication reply on to the NAS.
     
     Once the REL resource records have been retrieved by one mechanism  or
     another,  a  depth  first  search  is performed in order to select the
     roaming relationship path. In this case, ISPB  determines  whether  it
     has  a  direct roaming relationship with ISPA (priority 10 record from
     the bigco.com zone). If not, then it looks at the REL resource records
     for  the ispa.com domain, and determines whether it has a direct roam-
     ing relationship with any of the domains to whom  ISPA  has  delegated
     roaming  responsibility.  In  this case, ISPB determines that it has a
     direct roaming relationship with ISPGROUP1 (priority  10  record  from
     the  ispa.com  zone).  As  a  result,  the  roaming  relationship path
     bigco.com/ispa.com/ispgroup1.com/ispb.com is selected. Since ISPGROUP1
     operates an accounting agent within its domain, accounting records for
     the transaction will be sent to ISPGROUP1's accounting agent.
     
     If ISPA had not been a member of the ISPGROUP1 roaming consortia, then
     the  depth-first  search would have terminated, and ISPB would proceed
     to check for a business relationship on the branch represented by  the
     priority  20  REL resource record in the bigco.com zone (ispc.com). In
     this  case  the  roaming  relationship  path   bigco.com/ispc.com/isp-
     group1.com/ispb.com would have been selected.
     
     If  ISPB  were  a member of the ISPGROUP3 roaming consortia, and not a
     member of the ISPGROUP1 or ISPGROUP2 consortia, then the breadth-first
     search  would  fail  on  both  the  priority 10 and 20 branches of the
     bigco.com  tree.  In  this  case,  the  business   relationship   path
     bigco.com/ispgroup3.com/ispb.com would have been selected.
     
     
     5.2.  Example Two
     
     Let us assume that BIGCO has branch offices in multiple locations. The
     BIGCO branch office in Illinois has a contract with ISPA, which  is  a
     member  of  ISPGROUP1.  However,  ISPGROUP1  does not have coverage in
     Israel. As a result, the  branch office in Israel has a contract  with
     ISPC,  which  is  a  member  of ISPGROUP2, which does have coverage in
     Israel. It is desired that Fred be able to login either from  Illinois
     or  from Israel, with the authentication being done by the appropriate
     ISP. When logging in from Illinois, Fred uses the POPs of ISPB,  while
     in  Israel, he uses the POPs of ISPD. It should be noted that ISPA and
     ISPC can be located anywhere; they  need  not  necessarily  reside  in
     Illinois or Israel.
     
     In this case, the REL records for BIGCO will appear as follows:
     
     bigco.com. IN REL 10 ispa.com.        P I
     bigco.com. IN REL 20 ispc.com.        P I
     
     The records for ISPA, ISPB, ISPC, ISPD, ISPGROUP1 and ISPGROUP2 appear
     as follows:
     
     ispa.com.  IN REL 10 ispgroup1.com.        C I
     
     
     
     
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     ispb.com.  IN REL 10 ispgroup1.com.        C I
     
     ispc.com.  IN REL 10 ispgroup2.com.        C I
     
     ispd.com.  IN REL 10 ispgroup2.com.        C I
     
     ispgroup1.com.  IN REL 10 ispgroup1.com.   C I A
     
     ispgroup2.com.  IN REL 10 ispgroup2.com.   C I A
     
     
     5.2.1.  Sequence of events
     
     While in the United States, Fred logs into ISPB as fred@bigco.com;  as
     a  result  the  ISPB  authentication  proxy  receives this NAI. ISPB's
     authentication proxy first checks for the presence of  a  user  record
     for  fred.bigco.com. If so, then it retrieves the REL resource records
     for the domain to whom Fred has delegated roaming authority. If  there
     is  no  user  record,  then  it  checks its configuration files to see
     whether bigco.com is one of the domains with  whom  it  has  a  direct
     roaming  relationship.  This check will fail since BIGCO has no direct
     roaming relationship with ISPB. As  a  result,  ISPB's  authentication
     proxy will need to retrieve resource records either from its own cache
     or from the bigco.com zone.
     
     Once the REL resource records have been retrieved by one mechanism  or
     another,  a  depth  first  search  is performed in order to select the
     roaming relationship path. In this case, ISPB  determines  whether  it
     has  a  direct roaming relationship with ISPA (priority 10 record from
     the bigco.com zone). If not, then it looks at the REL resource records
     for  the ispa.com domain, and determines whether it has a direct roam-
     ing relationship with any of the domains to whom  ISPA  has  delegated
     roaming  responsibility.  In  this case, ISPB determines that it has a
     direct roaming relationship with ISPGROUP1 (priority  10  record  from
     the  ispa.com  zone).  As  a  result,  the  roaming  relationship path
     bigco.com/ispa.com/ispgroup1.com/ispb.com is selected. Since ISPGROUP1
     operates  a accounting agent within its domain, accounting records for
     the transaction will be sent to ISPGROUP1's accounting agent.
     
     While in Israel, Fred logs into ISPD as fred@bigco.com; as  a  result,
     the ISPD authentication proxy receives this NAI. ISPD's authentication
     proxy then checks its configuration files to see whether bigco.com  is
     one  of  the  domains  with whom it has a direct roaming relationship.
     This check will fail since BIGCO has no  direct  roaming  relationship
     with  ISPD.  As  a  result,  ISPD's  authentication proxy will need to
     retrieve REL resource records either from its own cache  or  from  the
     bigco.com zone.
     
     Once  the REL resource records have been retrieved by one mechanism or
     another, a depth first search is performed  in  order  to  select  the
     roaming  relationship  path.  In this case, ISPD determines whether it
     has a direct roaming relationship with ISPA (priority 10  record  from
     the bigco.com zone). If not, then it looks at the REL resource records
     for the ispa.com domain,  and  determines  whether  it  has  a  direct
     
     
     
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     roaming  relationship  with  any of the domains to whom ISPA has dele-
     gated roaming responsibility. In this case, ISPD  determines  that  no
     roaming relationship path exists passing through ISPA.
     
     As  a  result, ISPD checks for a roaming relationship path on the ISPC
     branch (priority 20 REL resource  record  from  the  bigco.com  zone).
     First,  it  determines  whether there is a direct roaming relationship
     between ISPD and ISPC (there is not). Then it looks at the REL records
     for  the ispc.com domain, and determines whether it has a direct roam-
     ing relationship with any of the domains to whom  ISPC  has  delegated
     roaming  responsibility.  In  this case, ISPD determines that it has a
     direct roaming relationship with ISPGROUP2 (priority 10  REL  resource
     record  from the ispc.com zone). As a result, the roaming relationship
     path bigco.com/ispc.com/ispgroup2.com/ispd.com is selected. Since ISP-
     GROUP2  operates  a  accounting  agent  within  its domain, accounting
     records for the transaction will be  sent  to  ISPGROUP2's  accounting
     agent.
     
     
     
     5.3.  Example Three
     
     Let  us  assume  that  Fred wishes to travel to a country which is not
     served by the roaming consortia that BIGCO's provider ISPA has joined.
     In  this  case,  Fred  will  wish to make use of the user REL resource
     record.
     
     In this case, the REL resource records for BIGCO will appear  as  fol-
     lows:
     
     bigco.com.      IN REL 10 ispa.com.   P I
     fred.bigco.com. IN REL 10 ispe.com.   U I
     
     The  records  for  ISPA, ISPB, ISPD, ISPGROUP1 and ISPGROUP2 appear as
     follows:
     
     ispa.com.  IN REL 10 ispgroup1.com.        C I
     
     ispb.com.  IN REL 10 ispgroup1.com.        C I
     ispb.com.  IN REL 10 ispgroup2.com.        C I
     
     ispe.com.  IN REL 10 ispgroup2.com.        C I
     
     ispgroup1.com.  IN REL 10 ispgroup1.com.   C I A
     
     ispgroup2.com.  IN REL 10 ispgroup2.com.   C I A
     
     
     5.3.1.  Sequence of events
     
     While traveling, Fred logs into ISPB as fred@bigco.com;  as  a  result
     the ISPB authentication proxy receives this NAI. ISPB's authentication
     proxy  first  checks  for  the  presence  of   a   user   record   for
     fred.bigco.com.  If so, then it retrieves the REL resource records for
     
     
     
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     the domain to whom Fred has delegated roaming authority. In this case,
     a  user  record  exists for fred@bigco.com, so that the authentication
     proxy determines whether it has a  direct  roaming  relationship  with
     ISPE  (priority  10 REL resource record from the fred.bigco.com zone).
     If not, then it looks at the REL resource  records  for  the  ispe.com
     domain,  and  determines  whether it has a direct roaming relationship
     with any of the domains to whom ISPE has delegated  roaming  responsi-
     bility.  In  this  case,  ISPB determines that it has a direct roaming
     relationship with ISPGROUP2 (priority 10 REL resource record from  the
     ispe.com   zone).   As   a   result,  the  roaming  relationship  path
     fred.bigco.com/ispe.com/ispgroup2.com/ispb.com is selected. Since ISP-
     GROUP2  operates  a  accounting  agent  within  its domain, accounting
     records for the transaction will be  sent  to  ISPGROUP2's  accounting
     agent.
     
     Please  note that even though Fred has a user REL resource record, the
     authentication conversation will still  be  conducted  between  ISPB's
     authentication proxy and BIGCO's authentication server.
     
     
     6.  Prevention of looping topologies
     
     Since  it  is possible to create looping topologies using REL resource
     records, a mechanism must be provided to prevent endless loops.  As  a
     result,  it  is  recommended that authentication proxies be configured
     with a default maximum of four hops. This would support  the  scenario
     of  an  authentication  passing from a NAS to an authentication proxy,
     from the proxy to ISPGROUP, from ISPGROUP to ISPA, and  from  ISPA  to
     BIGCO.
     
     
     7.  Use of the REL RR
     
     When  REL  resource records are utilized, no assurance can be provided
     as to the authenticity of the  roaming  relationships  represented  by
     these  records. As a result, it is necessary to verify the validity of
     the roaming relationship path by another means.  This  can  be  accom-
     plished  by  causing the authentication to be routed along the roaming
     relationship path, or by verifying the authenticity of  a  certificate
     or token returned by the home authentication server.
     
     As  an  example,  let  us  assume  that  the roaming relationship path
     bigco.com/ispc.com/ispgroup2.com/ispd.com is selected.  If  this  path
     has not been authenticated, then ISPD's authentication proxy will for-
     ward it's authentication request to ISPGROUP2, including  the  roaming
     relationship  path as a source route. ISPGROUP2 will then in turn for-
     ward the authentication to ISPC, who will forward it to BIGCO. At each
     step  of  the  way,  a  pre-existing  relationship  will need to exist
     between hops in order for this authentication forwarding  to  proceed.
     As  a result, the act of authenticating Fred via the roaming relation-
     ship path acts to validate the roaming relationship as determined from
     the REL resource records.
     
     
     
     
     
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     INTERNET-DRAFT                                            7 March 1997
     
     
     Note  that  such  hop by hop forwarding may be required even if public
     key authentication is  available  for  use  between  the  local  ISP's
     authentication  proxy  and  the home authentication server. As long as
     the roaming relationship path has not been  authenticated,  the  local
     ISP  will  still need to validate the roaming relationship path.  This
     can be accomplished by forcing the authentication to follow the  roam-
     ing  relationship path, validating the relationships between the prox-
     ies at each hop.
     
     Please also note that public key authentication will also typically be
     used in order to enable signed receipts to be returned by the account-
     ing agent in response to receipt of digitally signed accounting record
     bundles. DNS security can assist in determining what security features
     are implemented at a given home authentication  server  or  accounting
     agent.  Accounting agent support for MIME Security Multiparts is indi-
     cated via use of the Email bit within the  KEY  resource  record  flag
     field. DNS security may also be used to indicate that a home authenti-
     cation server supports IPSEC. This is indicated via use of  the  IPSEC
     bit within the KEY resource record flag field.
     
     
     8.  Acknowledgements
     
     Thanks  to  Glen  Zorn  of  Microsoft, Pat Calhoun of USR, and Michael
     Robinson of Global One for many useful  discussions  of  this  problem
     space.
     
     
     9.  References
     
     [1]  B. Aboba, J. Lu, J. Alsop, J. Ding.  "Review of Roaming Implemen-
     tations." draft-ietf-roamops-imprev-01.txt, Microsoft, Aimnet,  i-Pass
     Alliance, Asiainfo, January, 1997.
     
     [2]   B.  Aboba, G. Zorn.  "Dialing Roaming Requirements." draft-ietf-
     roamops-roamreq-02.txt, Microsoft, January, 1997.
     
     [3]  C. Rigney, A. Rubens, W. Simpson, S. Willens.  "Remote  Authenti-
     cation  Dial  In  User Service (RADIUS)." RFC 2058, Livingston, Merit,
     Daydreamer, January, 1997.
     
     [4]  C. Rigney.  "RADIUS Accounting." RFC 2059,  Livingston,  January,
     1997.
     
     [5]   R. Fajman. "An Extensible Message Format for Message Disposition
     Notifications."  draft-ietf-receipt-mdn-02.txt, National Institute  of
     Health, November, 1996.
     
     [6]  M.  Elkins.  "MIME  Security with Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)." RFC
     2015, The Aerospace Corporation, October, 1996.
     
     [7] G. Vaudreuil. "The Multipart/Report Content Type for the Reporting
     of  Mail System Administrative Messages." RFC 1892, Octel Network Ser-
     vices, January, 1996.
     
     
     
     Aboba                                                        [Page 12]


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     [8] J. Galvin., et al. "Security Multiparts for MIME: Multipart/Signed
     and Multipart/Encrypted." RFC 1847, Trusted Information Systems, Octo-
     ber, 1995.
     
     [9] D. Crocker. "MIME Encapsulation of EDI Objects." RFC  1767,  Bran-
     denburg Consulting, March, 1995.
     
     [10]  M.  Jansson,  C. Shih, N. Turaj, R. Drummond. "MIME-based Secure
     EDI." draft-ietf-ediint-as1-02.txt, LiNK, Actra, Mitre Corp,  Drummond
     Group, November, 1996.
     
     [11] C. Shih, M. Jansson, R. Drummond, L. Yarbrough. "Requirements for
     Inter-operable  Internet  EDI."  draft-ietf-ediint-req-01.txt,  Actra,
     LiNK, Drummond Group, May, 1995.
     
     [12]  A. Gulbrandsen, P. Vixie.  "A DNS RR for specifying the location
     of services (DNS SRV)." RFC 2052,  Troll  Technologies,  Vixie  Enter-
     prises, October 1996.
     
     [13]  D.  Eastlake,  3rd, C. W. Kaufman.  "Domain Name System Security
     Extensions." Draft-ietf-dnnsec-secext-10.txt, CyberCash, Iris, August,
     1996.
     
     [14]  S.  Bradner.  "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
     Levels." draft-bradner-key-words-02.txt, Harvard  University,  August,
     1996.
     
     [15]  C.  Malmud,  M.  Rose.  "Principles of Operation for the TPC.INT
     Subdomain: General Principles and Policy."  RFC 1530, Internet  Multi-
     casting Service, Dover Beach Consulting, Inc., October, 1993.
     
     
     
     
     10.  Authors' Addresses
     
     Bernard Aboba
     Microsoft Corporation
     One Microsoft Way
     Redmond, WA 98052
     
     Phone: 206-936-6605
     EMail: bernarda@microsoft.com
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     Aboba                                                        [Page 13]