[Alldispatch] Dispatching Happy Eyeballs Version 3

[Tommy Pauly <[e-mail]>]

Hi ALLDISPATCH,

We’d like to propose a draft to be dispatched at IETF 119. This draft was discussed in a couple different working groups (V6OPS and TSVWG) at IETF 118. One of the main points of discussion within those groups was the question of which working group would be most appropriate to take on the draft.

The draft is "Happy Eyeballs Version 3", which is an update to RFC 8305, which was Version 2. For those not familiar with Happy Eyeballs, it’s the name for the algorithm network clients use to create multiple connection attempts in parallel, with a small delay between attempts, for servers that are reachable on multiple IP addresses. This technique allows clients to have preferences for specific protocols or features, such as IPv6, while still making a user’s “eyeballs” happy in cases where there may be misconfigurations on networks or servers that cause the preferred protocols to fail or be slow. This work was originally developed in v6ops, and was primarily focused on handling the selection of IPv6 vs IPv4 options.

In the years since RFC 8305 was published, there have been numerous changes to the protocol ecosystem that required a refresh on the document. Some of the changes include:
- SVCB/HTTPS records (RFC 9460), which provide additional ways to get address hints, add priority between A/AAAA answers, indicate supported ALPNs, and indicate support for TLS encrypted client hello
- Growing support for QUIC (RFC 9000); previously, Happy Eyeballs was defined in terms of TCP connections, and needs to have some text adaptation
- New techniques for supporting v6-only networks and address synthesis

While the algorithm overall still focuses on selection of IP addresses and preferred address families, some of the new considerations (around transport protocol selection, ALPN selection, and preferences due to TLS encrypted client hello) cause the scope to potentially grow beyond the core expertise of V6OPS. Hence, we’d like to figure out where this work should go.

The draft can be found here:
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-pauly-v6ops-happy-eyeballs-v3/
https://www.ietf.org/archive/id/draft-pauly-v6ops-happy-eyeballs-v3-00.html

Slides from IETF 118 can be found here:
https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/118/materials/slides-118-v6ops-happy-eyeballs-v3-00

Thanks,
Tommy (& co-authors)