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Issues With Protocols Proposing Multilink Subnets draft-thaler-intarea-multilink-subnet-issues-00.txt. Dave Thaler dthaler@microsoft.com. Definitions. Link: topological area bounded by routers which decrement the IPv4 TTL or IPv6 Hop Limit when forwarding
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Issues With Protocols Proposing Multilink Subnetsdraft-thaler-intarea-multilink-subnet-issues-00.txt Dave Thaler dthaler@microsoft.com IETF 65
Definitions • Link: topological area bounded by routers which decrement the IPv4 TTL or IPv6 Hop Limit when forwarding • Subnet: topological area that uses the same address prefix, where that prefix is not further subdivided except into individual addresses • Multilink subnet: subnet that spans multiple links IETF 65
Current IP Model • RFC 1884, 2373, 3513 (IPv6 Addr Arch): "Currently IPv6 continues the IPv4 model that a subnet prefix is associated with one link. Multiple subnet prefixes may be assigned to the same link.” • RFC 3753 (Mobility Related Terminology) is consistent with this in defining home subnet prefix: “identifies a node’s home link” (singular). IETF 65
Internet Area seems to be fragmenting • IPv6 WG considered supporting multilink subnets, and rejected it • Multiple variants of multilink subnets exist • MIPv6 WG uses multilink subnet for home address prefix • Some MANET/Autoconf WGs drafts assume multilink subnets • NetLMM • etc IETF 65
Why did the IPv6 WG reject Multilink Subnets? • Affects an arbitrarily large set of upper-layer applications and protocols, due to: • Changes to IP Model break assumptions • DAD issues • TTL/Hop Limit issues • Security issues • Multicast/broadcast issues IETF 65
Duplicate Address Detection • 2462 allowed for Duplicate Interface Identifier Detection: • Just test link-local address for uniqueness, skip DAD for other addresses with same identifier • No longer recommended but implementations already exist • Address conflicts could occur in a multilink subnet IETF 65
TTL/Hop Limit issues • Application/protocol assumptions about relationship between TTL and being on same subnet • Send with TTL=1 • Send with TTL=255, checked on receipt • Many well-known sources have the assumption that link == subnet (TCP/IP Illus., Unix Net.Prog., Windows docs, Linux docs) • Hence this belief is widespread, and may appear in arbitrary applications • Neighbor Discovery relies on this assumption • Many other protocols/apps use TTL=1 or 255 without (documented) assumptions about relationship to prefix • MLDv2, Bonjour, LLMNR, MIPv4 reverse tunneling, etc. • Proxying per protocol/application doesn’t scale IETF 65
Security issues • Secure Neighbor Discovery is only defined within a single link • Some work on supporting ND proxies, but how many variants? • Some applications and protocols mitigate against off-link spoofing attempts by requiring TTL/HopLimit=255 on receipt • If removed or proxied, would need some other mitigation IETF 65
Link-scoped multicast/broadcast • Since link-scoped, generally not propagated across subnet • Lots of link-scoped protocols listed on IANA • Large number of other applications using all-hosts/broadcast • Most typically effect is just lack of operation across subnet, without proxying • Proxying per protocol doesn’t scale (and may hinder future use of link-scoped multicast) • Lack of multicast doesn’t inherently break the IP model (NBMA interfaces do exist) • Just limits applications/protocols that work IETF 65
Discussion Should we: A) Stick to the classic IP model: update MIPv6 provide guidance to other WGs B) Change the IP model: update many upper-layer protocols update many applications update documentation etc C) Continue fragmenting IETF 65