Technical Summary
The Host Identity Protocol (HIP) changes the way in which two
Internet hosts communicate. One key advantage over other schemes
is that HIP does not require modifications to the traditional
network-layer functionality of the Internet; i.e., its routers.
In the current Internet, however, many devices other than routers
modify the traditional network-layer behavior of the Internet.
These "middleboxes" are intermediary devices that perform functions
other than the standard functions of an IP router on the datagram
path between source and destination hosts. Whereas some types of
middleboxes may not interfere with HIP at all, some can affect some
aspects of HIP communication, and others can render HIP
communication impossible. This document discusses the problems
associated with HIP communication across network paths that include
specific types of middleboxes; namely, network address translators
and firewalls. It identifies and discusses issues in the current
HIP specifications that affect communication across these types of
middleboxes.
IESG Note
"This RFC is a product of the Internet Research Task Force and
is not a candidate for any level of Internet Standard. The
IRTF publishes the results of Internet-related research and
development activities. These results might not be suitable
for deployment."
RFC Editor's note:
draft-irtf-rfcs-00.txt says in section '2.1. Research Group
Preparation':
The document should have a statement in the abstract identifying the
document as the product of the RG and a paragraph in the first
section describing the level of support for the document (e.g., "this
document represents the consensus of the FOOBAR RG", "the views in
this document were considered controversial by the FOOBAR RG but the
RG reached a consensus that the document should still be published")
and the breadth of review for the document.
The abstract of this document does not contain any of this.
Please see other Comments from the IESG review in the Tracker.