Re: [conex] Length of conex-destopt?

[Bob Briscoe <[e-mail]>]

Suresh,

Yeah, I did think that too, but...

Another (better?) way to do extensibility is to say that the sender 
MUST set the CDO option length = 1 but ConEx-aware nodes MUST accept 
an option length of 1 or longer. However, whatever the length, 
ConEx-aware nodes read the first 4 bits as defined.

Then, if a new spec is ever written, it can define new fields to 
whatever length it needs.


Bob

At 04:01 08/10/2014, Suresh Krishnan wrote:
>Hi Bob,
>The reason I made it 4 bytes is for future extensibility and not 
>only for current use. Since we are defining a new kind of option 
>that signals info to the network I thought it would be useful for 
>someone who needs such option in the future to have a few extra bits 
>around as cheap insurance. What do you think?
>
>Thanks
>Suresh
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Bob Briscoe [[e-mail]]
>Received: Monday, 06 Oct 2014, 6:06PM
>To: Suresh Krishnan [[e-mail]]
>CC: Mirja KUEHLEWIND [[e-mail]]; ConEx IETF 
>list [[e-mail]]
>Subject: Length of conex-destopt?
>
>Suresh,
>
>Is there any reason why the CDO data field is 4 octets long? I think 
>it only needs to consume 1 octet.
>
>While I was reviewing conex-destopt I read RFC2460 more carefully 
>than I have done before. I realised I had previously misread this 
>sentence in <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2460#section-4>Section 4: 
>"Each extension header is an integer multiple of 8 octets long".
>
>I thought it meant each option had to end on an 8-octet boundary 
>(which is why I specified the 
><https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-briscoe-conex-re-ecn-tcp-04#section-5.2>re-ECN 
>IPv6 option data length as 4-octets - wrongly I now realise). 
>However, it merely means that the whole destination options 
>extension header must be an integer multiple of 8 octets.
>
>According to <http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2460#section-4.2>Section 
>4.2, each option within the destopt extension header (e.g. CDO) can 
>be any length. Then, if there are more destopts to fit in a packet, 
>IPv6 fits them in one after the other, and adds padding at the end 
>of all the destopts to pad the whole extension header out to a 
>multiple of 8 octets. The IPv6 implementation can also use padding 
>options before any dest opts that contain multi-octet fields that 
>need to be aligned on natural boundaries.
>
>So the CDO can be only 1 octet long (plus 2 octets for type and 
>length) 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
>                                    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>                                    | Opt type = CDO| Opt data len=1|
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>    |X|L|E|C| Resvd |
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>
>Then, if there are no other destopts in a particular packet, IPv6 
>would pad it out 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
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>    |  Next Header  |  HdrExtLen=0  | Opt type = CDO| Opt data len=1|
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>    |X|L|E|C| Resvd | PadN type = 1 | Opt data len=1|       0       |
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>
>Where option type 1 is PadN, which in this case uses Opt data length 
>= 1, which means there is 1 octet of zero-padding.
>
>On the other hand, if for example a packet needed to contain CDO as 
>well as some new destopt called 'NewOpt', assuming NewOpt has been 
>defined with an alignment requirement of 4n+2 and an opt data length 
>of 6, the destopt extension header would look like this:
>
>     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
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>    |  Next Header  |  HdrExtLen=1  | Opt type = CDO| Opt data len=1|
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>    |X|L|E|C| Resvd | Pad1 type = 0 | NewOpt type=XX| Opt data len=6|
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>    |                                                               |
>    +                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>    |       NewOpt data field       | PadN type = 1 | Opt data len=0|
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>
>Otherwise, with the 6-octet CDO as previously defined, the destop 
>extension header would have to be much longer, 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
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>    |  Next Header  |  HdrExtLen=2  | Opt type = CDO| Opt data len=4|
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>    |X|L|E|C|                   Reserved                            |
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>    | PadN type = 1 | Opt data len=0| NewOpt type=XX| Opt data len=6|
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>    |                                                               |
>    +                               +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>    |       NewOpt data field       | PadN type = 1 | Opt data len=4|
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>    |                               0                               |
>    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>
>Unless I'm wrong, I think we should change conex-destopt. Thoughts?
>
>
>Bob
>
>________________________________________________________________
>Bob Briscoe,                                                  BT

________________________________________________________________
Bob Briscoe,                                                  BT