Observations on the Dropping of Packets with IPv6 Extension Headers in the Real World
RFC 7872

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                           F. Gont
Request for Comments: 7872                        SI6 Networks / UTN-FRH
Category: Informational                                       J. Linkova
ISSN: 2070-1721                                                   Google
                                                                T. Chown
                                                                    Jisc
                                                                  W. Liu
                                                     Huawei Technologies
                                                               June 2016

                Observations on the Dropping of Packets
             with IPv6 Extension Headers in the Real World

Abstract

   This document presents real-world data regarding the extent to which
   packets with IPv6 Extension Headers (EHs) are dropped in the Internet
   (as originally measured in August 2014 and later in June 2015, with
   similar results) and where in the network such dropping occurs.  The
   aforementioned results serve as a problem statement that is expected
   to trigger operational advice on the filtering of IPv6 packets
   carrying IPv6 EHs so that the situation improves over time.  This
   document also explains how the results were obtained, such that the
   corresponding measurements can be reproduced by other members of the
   community and repeated over time to observe changes in the handling
   of packets with IPv6 EHs.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
   approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7872.

Gont, et al.                  Informational                     [Page 1]
RFC 7872                 IPv6 Extension Headers                June 2016

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2016 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
   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.  Support of IPv6 Extension Headers in the Internet . . . . . .   3
   3.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   4.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     4.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     4.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   Appendix A.  Reproducing Our Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     A.1.  Obtaining the List of Domain Names  . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     A.2.  Obtaining AAAA Resource Records . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     A.3.  Filtering the IPv6 Address Datasets . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     A.4.  Performing Measurements with Each IPv6 Address Dataset  .   9
     A.5.  Obtaining Statistics from Our Measurements  . . . . . . .  10
   Appendix B.  Measurements Caveats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     B.1.  Isolating the Dropping Node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
     B.2.  Obtaining the Responsible Organization for the Packet
           Drops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
   Appendix C.  Troubleshooting Packet Drops Due to IPv6 Extension
                Headers  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15

Gont, et al.                  Informational                     [Page 2]
RFC 7872                 IPv6 Extension Headers                June 2016

1.  Introduction

   IPv6 Extension Headers (EHs) allow for the extension of the IPv6
   protocol and provide support for core functionality such as IPv6
   fragmentation.  While packets employing IPv6 EHs have been suspected
   to be dropped in some IPv6 deployments, there was not much concrete
   data on the topic.  Some preliminary measurements have been presented