Mobile IP Working Group                                  Jahanzeb Faizan
Internet-Draft                                          Hesham El-Rewini
Expires: August, 2004                      Southern Methodist University
                                                         Mohammad Khalil
                                                         Nortel Networks
                                                          February, 2004


                Virtual Home Agent Reliability Protocol (VHAR)
                       draft-jfaizan-mipv6-vhar-01.txt

Status of this Memo

   This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
   all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
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   This Internet-Draft will expire on August, 2004.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   Current specifications of Mobile IPv6 does not provide Home Agent
   Reliability and Load Balancing in the home link. The aim of this
   draft is to introduce Virtual Home Agent Reliability Protocol as the
   solution. In this protocol multiple Home Agents coexist on the same
   home link and share the same Global IP Address. Only one of them is
   active at a time and serves the Mobile Node. The Home Agent failure
   and failover mechanisms are completely transparent to the Mobile Node
   which is required for minimal service interruption time. This
   protocol does not introduce any new Mobile IPv6 message over the air
   interface and thus helps reducing the overall overhead.



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Table of Contents

   1.   Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

   2.   Terminology . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

   3.   Related Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

   4.   Virtual Home Agent Reliability Protocol Overview . . . . . . . 5
        4.1  VHAR Deployment Scenario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
        4.2  VHAR State Diagram. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
        4.3  Mobile Node Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
        4.4  VHAR Failure Detection and Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . 9
             4.4.1 Active Home Agent Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
             4.4.2 Backup Home Agent Failure . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

   5.   New ICMP Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
        5.2  Modified Router Advertisement Message. . . . . . . . . . 14
        5.3  MN Release Request Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
        5.4  MN Release Reply Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
        5.5  MN Context Update Request Message . . . . . . . . . . . .17
        5.6  MN Context Update Reply Message . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

   6.   IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

   7.   Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

        References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

        Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

        Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . .21

        Acknowledgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

















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1. Introduction

   Mobile IPv6[1] is designed to allow a Mobile Node(MN) to change its
   point of IP subnet attachment in the Internet at the network or IP
   layer. MN is always identified by it Home Address regardless of its
   current location. Its mobility is not limited by conventional IP
   network boundaries. In Mobile IPv6 system the Home Agent(HA) remains
   at conventional IPv6 subnet called the home link and when the MN is
   at the home link packets sent to it are routed through conventional
   IPv6[5] routing mechanisms. When the MN is not at home link it
   registers its remote point of attachment address called
   Care-of Address with the HA. This allows HA to forward packets,
   addressed to the MN at its home link, to its current location.

   In Mobile IPv6 system, as currently specified, a single HA services
   multiple MNs. Mobile IPv6 also allows deployment of multiple HAs on
   the same link so that if the serving HA fails then any other HA
   on the link can provide service to the MN.

   In Mobile IPv6, MN registers and establishes a connection with only
   one HA. The MN is reliant on this HA for its connectivity. Thus the
   HA represents the possibility of a single point of failure for Mobile
   IPv6. A HA may be responsible for multiple MNs on the home link. The
   failure of a single HA may then result in the loss of connectivity
   for numerous MNs located throughout the Internet. Thus the HA and MN
   taken together have a shared fate. A MN cannot afford the loss of its
   HA. To overcome this problem Mobile IPv6 allows deployment of
   multiple HAs on the home link so that upon the failure of serving HA,
   another HA can take over the functions of failed HA and thus provide
   continuous service to the MN(s) registered with failed HA. This
   transfer of service from the failed HA to a new working HA is
   problematic and the current specification of Mobile IPv6 does not
   provide solution to these problems. In [12] these problems were
   discussed and guidelines for the possible solutions were proposed.

   The goal of this draft is to propose "Virtual Home Agent Reliability"
   protocol which provide HA Reliability and Load Balancing in
   the Mobile IPv6 networks.


2 Terminology

   The keywords "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [6].

   Following terms are not re-defined. They are included for the
   convenience of the readers.



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   Mobile IPv6
           Mobile IP for IPv6 [1]

   Mobile Node (MN)
           A node that can change its point of attachment from one link
           to another, while still being reachable via its home address.

   IP
           Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6).[5]

   Home Address
           A unicast routable address assigned to a MN, used as the
           permanent address of the MN. This address is within the MN's
           home link. Standard IP routing mechanisms will deliver
           packets destined for a MN's home address to its home
           link. MNs can have multiple home addresses, for instance when
           there are multiple home prefixes on the home link.

   Home Link
           The link on which a MN's home subnet prefix is defined.

   Home Agent (HA)
           A router on a MN's home link with which the MN has registered
           its current Care-of address. While the MN is away from home,
           the HA intercepts packets on the home link destined to the
           MN's home address, encapsulates them, and tunnels them to the
           MN's registered Care-of address.

   Care-of Address
           A unicast routable address associated with a MN while
           visiting a foreign link; the subnet prefix of this IP address
           is a foreign subnet prefix. Among the multiple
           Care-of addresses that a MN may have at any given time (e.g.,
           with different subnet prefixes), the one registered with the
           MN's HA for a given home address is called its "primary"
           Care-of address.

   IPsec Security Association
           An IPsec security association is a cooperative relationship
           formed by the sharing of cryptographic keying material and
           associated context. Security associations are simplex. That
           is, two security associations are needed to protect
           bidirectional traffic between two nodes, one for each
           direction.

   Home Registration
           A registration between the MN and its HA, authorized by the
           use of IPsec.



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3. Related Work

   HAHA [7] protocol provides HA Reliability and Load Balancing for
   Mobile IPv6. In this protocol multiple HAs are provided over
   different links and MN has to register its binding in them. MN
   selects one of the HAs as its primary HA. Primary HA or any other HA
   can tunnel packets from Correspondant Node to MN. On failure of the
   primary HA the MN can switch its service to any other HA on any link.
   In this protocol the MN has burden to detect the failure of its
   primary HA itself and then recover from this failure. Since HAs are
   located at different physical links to provide service in case of
   home link failure the MN has burden of doing multiple Home
   Registrations. Also the failure of the primary HA is not transparent
   to the MN and it is delayed by a considerable amount of time which
   results in service interruption and message overhead. MN also has to
   establish IPsec Security Associations with all its HAs. Load
   Balancing among HAs has been proposed in [13] but it does not provide
   Reliability solution.


4. Virtual Home Agent Reliability Protocol Overview

   Virtual HA Reliability Protocol (VHAR) works along with Mobile IPv6
   at the network layer and provide HA Reliability and Load Balancing.
   It uses multiple HAs on the same home link. All the HAs have exact
   same Global IP address (referred as Home Agent Address) and only one
   of them is active on the home link at a particular instance of time,
   similar to the technique used in VRRPv6 [8].

4.1 VHAR Deployment Scenario

   We will consider a basic deployment scenario where six HAs (HA_1..6)
   coexist on the same home link to provide continuous service to MN.
   Currently HA_1 is active and responsible for all the Mobile IPv6 HA
   functions as defined in [1].
















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            Foreign Network                       Home Link
           ...................            ..............................
           .                 .            .                            .
           .      +----+     .            .  +-------+      +-------+  .
           .      |MN  |     .<==========>.  | HA_1  |      | HA_4  |  .
           .      |    |     .            .  +-------+      +-------+  .
           .      +----+     .            .                            .
           .                 .            .  +-------+      +-------+  .
           ...................            .  | HA_2  |      | HA_5  |  .
                                          .  +-------+      +-------+  .
                                          .                            .
                                          .  +-------+      +-------+  .
                                          .  | HA_3  |      | HA_6  |  .
                                          .  +-------+      +-------+  .
                                          ..............................

                 Figure 1: VHAR Basic Deployment Scenario


4.2 VHAR State Diagram

   Each HA on the home link could be in one of the following states.

Active HA

        Active HA is the one which is responsible for all the HA tasks
        as defined in Mobile IPv6 [1]. There could be only single Active
        HA on the link at a particular instance of time. It will send
        Router Advertisements on the link by setting 'A' bit along with
        the 'H' bit.

Backup HA

        Backup HA is the one which is not performing any HA task except
        storing the mobility bindings in the Binding Cache. There should
        be atleast two Backup HAs always maintained on the home link.
        Each backup HA will send Router Advertisements on the link by
        setting 'B' bit along with the 'H' bit.

Inactive HA

        Inactive HA is the one which is not performing any HA task.
        Initially all HAs are Inactive HAs. Later on except the Active
        HA and Backup HAs all other HAs on the home link are Inactive
        HAs. They send Router Advertisements on the link by setting only
        the 'H' bit.





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                            +-------------+
                            |             |
                            | Inactive HA |
                            |             |
                            +-------------+
                             |           |
                            1|           |2
                             |           |        ------
                             v           v       |      |
                    +-----------+      +-----------+    |4
                    |           |      |           |    |
                    | Active HA |<-----| Backup HA |<---
                    |           |   3  |           |
                    +-----------+      +-----------+


                 Figure 2: VHAR State Diagram


Transition 1

        Initially all HAs are Inactive HAs. When the network is
        launched one of the HAs becomes Active HA.

Transition 2

        When any Inactive HA receives MN Context Update Request Message
        from the Active HA it will become Backup HA.

Transition 3

        When the Active HA fails, one of the two Backup HAs will become
        Active HA.

Transition 4

        When any Backup HA receives MN Context Update Request Message
        from the Active HA, it will remain as Backup HA.


4.3 Mobile Node Registration

   When MN wants to register its Care-of Address, it sends Binding
   Update(BU) using the Home Address as the destination address. This BU
   will be intercepted by the Active HA_1(in our scenario) which MAY
   perform Duplicate Address Detection[9] (DaD) to know if this MN is
   already registered with any other HA on the home link. If it is
   registered then the Active HA_1 will send "MN Release Request"



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   message to the HA which is holding the binding. In response, "MN
   Release Reply" message will be send to the Active HA_1 which will
   then select two HAs, HA_4 and HA_5 on the home link and send "MN
   Context Update Request"(MCUR) messages to them. In response these HAs
   will become Backup HAs and send "MN Context Update Reply"(MCURe)
   messages to the Active HA_1. If the Backup HAs already exist then the
   Active HA_1 will send MCUR messages to them directly. Upon receiving
   the replies Active HA_1 will send Binding Acknowledgement(BA) message
   to the MN.as shown in figure 3 and figure 4..



         Foreign Network                         Home Link
      ...................            .................................
      .                 .            .                               .
      .      +----+     .     BU     .  +--------+ MCUR   +--------+ .
      .      |    |================> .  | Active |------->| Backup | .
      .      | MN |     .            .  |  HA_1  |------  |  HA_4  | .
      .      |    |<====================+--------+ MCUR | +--------+ .
      .      +----+     .     BA     .                  |            .
      .                 .            .  +--------+      | +--------+ .
      ...................            .  |  HA_2  |      | | Backup | .
                                     .  |        |      ->|  HA_5  | .
                                     .  +--------+        +--------+ .
                                     .                               .
                                     .  +--------+        +--------+ .
                                     .  |  HA_3  |        |  HA_6  | .
                                     .  |        |        |        | .
                                     .  +--------+        +--------+ .
                                     .................................


                  Figure 3: VHAR Mobile Node Registration


















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       ......................................
  MN   . HA_1  HA_2  HA_3  HA_4  HA_5  HA_6 . 0. HA_1 is Active HA.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |===>.  |     |     |     |     |     |   . 1. MN sent BU.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |<--------------------------->|   . 2. DaD by Active HA_1.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    HA_3 has binding.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |---------->|     |     |     |   . 3. Active HA_1 sent to
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    HA_3 MN Release
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    Request.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |<----------|     |     |     |   . 4. HA_3 sent to Active
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    HA_1 MN Release Reply.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |---------------->|     |     |   . 5. Active HA_1 sent to
  |    .  |---------------------->|     |   .    HA_4 and HA_5 MCURs.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |<----------------|     |     |   . 6. HA_4 and HA_5 replied
  |    .  |<----------------------|     |   .    to Active HA_1 and
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    became Backup HAs.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |<======|     |     |     |     |     |   . 7. Active HA_1 sent BA to
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    the MN.
       ......................................

             Figure 4: VHAR Mobile Node Registration Signal Flow

   The above mentioned signal flow indicates that there is only single
   Home Registration done by the MN on the home link and still MN's
   binding information is stored on three HAs.


4.4 VHAR Failure Detection and Recovery

   According to Mobile IPv6 specifications each HA maintains Home
   Agent List(HAL) to keep track of all the HAs on the home link. VHAR
   protocol modifies this HAL by adding a new field called "Status".
   This Status field represents the state of the HA which could be
   Active, Backup or Inactive.

   As defined in Mobile IPv6 each HA sends unsolicited multicast Router
   Advertisement messages periodically on the link. They help HAs to
   maintain their HALs. VHAR modifies the Router Advertisement message
   by including two flag bits called the 'A' bit (Active HA) and the 'B'
   bit (Backup HA). Thus each HA on the link knows about the Active HA,
   Backup HAs and Inactive HAs on the home link.




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   When any HA on the link fails all other HAs will not receive Router
   Advertisement messages from it and upon timeout they will send
   unicast Router Solicitation messages [10] to it in order to confirm
   its failure and if they don't receive Router Advertisement message
   from it still, they will delete its entry from their HALs.

4.4.1 Active Home Agent Failure

   If the failed HA is Active HA then one of the two Backup HAs will
   become Active HA and it will start sending Router Advertisements with
   the 'A' bit set along with the 'H' bit. It will make, among the
   Inactive HAs, a Backup HA by sending MCUR message to it and
   receiving MCURe message in response.

   Figure 5 shows the failure of Active HA_1 which results in changing
   the status of Backup HA_4 into Active HA_4. The Active HA_4 will then
   send MCUR message to the Inactive HA_2 in order to make it as Backup
   HA_2 as shown in figure 6


       Foreign Network                         Home Link
      ...................            .................................
      .                 .            .    \     /                    .
      .      +----+     .            .  +--\---/-+        +--------+ .
      .      |    |     .            .  | Active |        | Backup | .
      .      | MN |     .            .  |  HA_1  |        |  HA_4  | .
      .      |    |     .            .  +----/\--+        +--------+ .
      .      +----+     .            .      /  \                     .
      .                 .            .  +--------+        +--------+ .
      ...................            .  |  HA_2  |        | Backup | .
                                     .  |        |        |  HA_5  | .
                                     .  +--------+        +--------+ .
                                     .                               .
                                     .  +--------+        +--------+ .
                                     .  |  HA_3  |        |  HA_6  | .
                                     .  |        |        |        | .
                                     .  +--------+        +--------+ .
                                     .................................


                   Figure 5: Failure of the Active HA_1










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       Foreign Network                         Home Link
      ...................            .................................
      .      +----+     .            .                    +--------+ .
      .      |    |     .            .                    | Active | .
      .      | MN |     .            .                ----|  HA_4  | .
      .      |    |     .            .           MCUR|    +--------+ .
      .      +----+     .            .               |               .
      .                 .            .  +--------+   |    +--------+ .
      ...................            .  | Backup |   |    | Backup | .
                                     .  |  HA_2  |<--     |  HA_5  | .
                                     .  +--------+        +--------+ .
                                     .                               .
                                     .  +--------+        +--------+ .
                                     .  |  HA_3  |        |  HA_6  | .
                                     .  |        |        |        | .
                                     .  +--------+        +--------+ .
                                     .................................

          Figure 6: Recovery from the failure of the Active HA_1

       ......................................
  MN   . HA_1  HA_2  HA_3  HA_4  HA_5  HA_6 .
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   . 0. HA_1 is Active,
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    HA_4 and HA_5 are
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    Backup HAs.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |<--------------------------->|   . 1. All the HAs
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    multicast Router
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    Advertisements.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |--X->|     |     |     |     |   . 2. Active HA_1 failed.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |<----|-----|-----|-----|-----|   . 3. All other HAs unicast
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    Router Solicitations
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    to HA_1.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |     |<----------|     |     |   . 4. Backup HA_4 became
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    Active HA_4 and ask
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    Inactive HA_2 to
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    become Backup by
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    sending MCUR
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |     |---------->|     |     |   . 5. HA_2 replied to the
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    Active HA_4 and became
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    Backup HA_2.
       ......................................

   Figure 7: VHAR Active HA Failure Detection and Recovery Signal Flow



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4.4.2 Backup Home Agent Failure

   VHAR require atleast two Backup HAs always maintained on the home
   link. It is unlikely that the both Backup HAs fail at the same time.
   There could be more than two Backup HAs also but it depends on the
   application requirement.

   If the failed HA is Backup HA then the Active HA will make an
   Inactive HA as another Backup HA by sending MCUR message to it and
   receiving MCURe message in response. This newly added Backup HA will
   then start sending Router Advertisements by setting the B bit along
   with the H bit.

   Figure 8 shows the failure of Backup HA_5 as the result of which
   Active HA_4 sends MCUR message to Inactive HA_6 in order to make it
   as Backup HA_6 as shown in figure 9


       Foreign Network                         Home Link
      ...................            .................................
      .                 .            .                               .
      .      +----+     .            .                    +--------+ .
      .      |    |     .            .                    | Active | .
      .      | MN |     .            .                    |  HA_4  | .
      .      |    |     .            .                    +--------+ .
      .      +----+     .            .                   \       /   .
      .                 .            .  +--------+        +\----/--+ .
      ...................            .  | Backup |        | Backup | .
                                     .  |  HA_2  |        |  HA_5  | .
                                     .  +--------+        +--/--\--+ .
                                     .                      /    \   .
                                     .  +--------+        +--------+ .
                                     .  |  HA_3  |        |  HA_6  | .
                                     .  |        |        |        | .
                                     .  +--------+        +--------+ .
                                     .................................


                   Figure 8: Failure of the Backup HA_5












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       Foreign Network                         Home Link
      ...................            .................................
      .                 .            .                               .
      .      +----+     .            .                    +--------+ .
      .      |    |     .            .                    | Active | .
      .      | MN |     .            .                    |  HA_4  | .
      .      |    |     .            .                    +--------+ .
      .      +----+     .            .                         |     .
      .                 .            .  +--------+             |     .
      ...................            .  | Backup |        MCUR |     .
                                     .  |  HA_2  |             |     .
                                     .  +--------+             |     .
                                     .                         V     .
                                     .  +--------+        +--------+ .
                                     .  |  HA_3  |        | Backup | .
                                     .  |        |        |  HA_6  | .
                                     .  +--------+        +--------+ .
                                     .................................

        Figure 9: Recovery from the failure of the Backup HA_5


       ......................................
  MN   . HA_1  HA_2  HA_3  HA_4  HA_5  HA_6 .
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   . 0. HA_4 is Active,
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    HA_2 and HA_5 are
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    Backup HAs.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |<--------------------------->|   . 1. All the HAs
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    multicast Router
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    Advertisements.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |     |     |     |<--X-|--X->|   . 2. Backup HA_5 failed.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |-----|-----|-----|---->|<----|   . 3. All other HAs unicast
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    Router Solicitations
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    to HA_5.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |     |     |     |---------->|   . 4. Active HA_4 sent
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    MCUR to Inactive HA_6
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    to make it Backup HA_6.
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .
  |    .  |     |     |     |<----------|   . 5. HA_6 sent MCURe to
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    Active HA_4 and became
  |    .  |     |     |     |     |     |   .    Backup HA_6.
       ......................................

  Figure 10: VHAR Backup HA Failure Detection and Recovery Signal Flow



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   The Signal flows shown above indicate that the failure detection and
   recovery mechanism are completely transparent to the MN which is
   required to keep the service interruption time minimal. Moreover
   there is no operational burden on the MN. All the messages are
   exchanged on the home link only. This also helps reducing the message
   overhead on the air interface.


5. New ICMP Messages

5.1 Modified Router Advertisement Message

   The Router Advertisement messages as defined in Mobile IPv6 are sent
   among HAs to maintain their HALs. The Source and Destination address
   fields of the IPv6 header MUST be set to sender's link-local unicast
   address and multicast address respectively.

   VHAR modifies the format of the Router Advertisement message by the
   addition of two flag bits to indicate the status of sending HA. Also
   the Reserved field is changed. Router Advertisement message is as
   follows:

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |     Code      |          Checksum             |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Cur Hop Limit |M|O|H|A|B|Reser|       Router Lifetime         |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                         Reachable Time                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                          Retrans Timer                        |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |   Options ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

   This format represents the following changes over the Router
   Advertisement message defined in Mobile IPv6 [1]

   Active HA bit (A)

           The Active HA bit (A) is set to indicate that the sender of
           this message is functioning as Active HA on this link.

   Backup HA bit (B)

           The Backup HA bit (B) is set to indicate that the sender of
           this message is functioning as Backup HA on this link.



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   Reserved (Reser)

           Reduced from a 5-bit field to a 3-bit field to account for
           the addition of the above bits.

5.2 MN Release Request Message

   The MN Release Request message is sent by the Active HA to another HA
   at which MN is currently registered. The purpose of this message is
   to request de-registration of the MN's binding at its current HA. The
   Source and Destination address fields of the IPv6 header MUST be set
   to sender's and receiver's unicast link-local addresses.

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |     Code      |          Checksum             |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |          Identifier           |            Reserved           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   +                                                               +
   |                                                               |
   +                         Home Address                          +
   |                                                               |
   +                                                               +
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type

           161 (To Be Assigned by IANA)

   Code

           0

   Checksum

           The ICMP checksum [11].

   Identifier

           An identifier to aid in matching MN Release Reply message to
           this MN Release Request message.






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   Reserved

           This field is unused. It MUST be initialized to zero by the
           sender and MUST be ignored by the receiver.

   Home Address

           The Home Address that was contained in the Home Address
           destination option of BU.

5.3 MN Release Reply Message

   The MN Release Reply message is sent by the current HA of the MN to
   the Active HA. The purpose of this message is to confirm the
   de-registration of the MN at its current HA. The Source and
   Destination address fields of the IPv6 header MUST be set to sender's
   and receiver's unicast link-local addresses.

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |     Code      |          Checksum             |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |          Identifier           |            Reserved           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type

           162 (To Be Assigned by IANA)

   Code

           0

   Checksum

           The ICMP checksum [11].

   Identifier

           The identifier from the invoking MN Release Request message.

   Reserved

           This field is unused. It MUST be initialized to zero by the
           sender and MUST be ignored by the receiver.





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5.4 MN Context Update Request Message

   The MN Context Update Request message is sent by the Active HA to a
   Backup HA or an Inactive HA. The purpose of this message is to
   request the Backup HA to store the binding of the MN. In case when
   the receiver is Inactive HA the purpose of this message is to make it
   Backup HA. Source and Destination address fields of the IPv6 header
   MUST be set to sender's and receiver's unicast link-local addresses.

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |     Code      |          Checksum             |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |          Identifier           |            Reserved           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Data..
   +-+-+-+-+


   Type

           163 (To Be Assigned by IANA)

   Code

           0

   Checksum

           The ICMP checksum [11].

   Identifier

           An identifier to aid in matching MN Context Update Reply
           message to this MN Context Update Request message.


   Reserved

           This field is unused. It MUST be initialized to zero by the
           sender and MUST be ignored by the receiver.

   Data
           Data field includes the binding information for a single or
           multiple MNs. It has the following format.





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           Home Address(64 bits), Care-of Address(64-bits), Lifetime(16
           bits), Flag(1 bit), Sequence Number(16 bits), Usage
           Information(16 bits).

           This constitutes complete Binding Cache entry for a single
           MN. Data field could be composed of multiple Binding Cache
           entries, each separated by a blank. It is terminated by a
           terminator

5.5 MN Context Update Reply Message

   The MN Context Update Reply message is sent by the Backup HA to the
   Active HA. The purpose of this message is to acknowledge the storage
   of MN's binding. Source and Destination address fields of the IPv6
   header MUST be set to the unicast link-local addresses of the
   Backup HA and Active HA respectively.

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |     Code      |          Checksum             |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |          Identifier           |            Reserved           |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Type

           164 (To Be Assigned by IANA)

   Code

           0

   Checksum

           The ICMP checksum [11].

   Identifier

           The identifier from the invoking MN Context Update Request
           message.

   Reserved

           This field is unused. It MUST be initialized to zero by the
           sender and MUST be ignored by the receiver.





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6. IANA Considerations

   This document defines four new ICMP messages

   -  MN Release Request Message

   -  MN Release Reply Message

   -  MN Context Update Request Message

   -  MN Context Update Reply Message


7. Security Considerations

   Security Considerations are not discussed in this draft.


References

   [1]  Perkins, C., Johnson, D. and J. Arkko, "Mobility Support in
        IPv6", draft-ietf-mobileip-ipv6-24 (work in progress), August
        2003.

   [2]  Harkins, D. and D. Carrel, "The Internet Key Exchange (IKE)",
        RFC 2409, November 1998.

   [3]  Arkko, J., Devarapalli, V. and F. Dupont, "Using IPsec to
        Protect Mobile IPv6 Signaling between Mobile Nodes and  Home
        Agents", draft-ietf-mobileip-mipv6-ha-ipsec-06 (work in
        progress), June 2003.

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

   [5]  Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6)
        Specification", RFC 2460, December 1998.

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

   [7]  Wakikawa, R., Devarapalli, V. and P.Thubert, "Inter Home Agents
        Protocol (HAHA)", draft-wakikawa-mip6-nemo-haha-00.txt (work in
        progress), October 2003.

   [8]  Hinden, R., "Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol",
        draft-ietf-vrrp-spec-v2-09.txt.(work in progress), August 2003.




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   [9]  Thomson, S. and T. Narten, "IPv6 Stateless Address
        Autoconfiguration", RFC 1971, August 1996.

   [10] Narten, T., Nordmark, E. and W. Simpson, "Neighbor Discovery
        for IP Version 6 (IPv6)", RFC 2461, December 1998.

   [11] Conta, A. and S. Deering, "Internet Control Message Protocol
        (ICMPv6) for the Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)
        Specification", RFC 2463, December 1998.

   [12] Faizan, J., El-Rewini, H. and M.Khalil, "Problem Statement:Home
        Agent Reliability", draft-jfaizan-mipv6-ha-reliability-01.txt
        (work in progress), February 2004.

   [13] Deng, H., Zhang, R., Huang, X. and K.Zhang, "Load Balance for
        Distributed Home Agents in Mobile IPv6", draft-deng-mip6-ha-
        loadbalance-00.txt (work in progress), November 2003.

   [14] Faizan, J., El-Rewini, H. and M.Khalil, "Virtual Home Agent
        Reliability Protocol (VHAR)", draft-jfaizan-mipv6-vhar-00.txt
        (work in progress), November 2003.



Authors' Addresses

   Jahanzeb Faizan
   Southern Methodist University
   Computer Science and Engineering Department.
   6425 N Ownby Dr., SIC #300D
   Dallas, TX, 75205, USA

   Phone +1 214-768-3712, Fax +1 214-768-3085
   EMail: jfaizan@smu.edu


   Hesham El-Rewini
   Southern Methodist University
   Computer Science and Engineering Department.
   6425 N Ownby Dr., SIC #306C
   Dallas, TX, 75205, USA

   Phone +1 214-768-3278, Fax +1 214-768-3085
   EMail: rewini@engr.smu.edu







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   Mohammad Khalil
   Nortel Networks
   Richardson, TX, USA

   Phone: +1 972-685-0564
   EMail: mkhalil@nortelnetworks


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   This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
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