Dialup subnet configuration -Reply

Kester Fong <kfong@novell.com> Tue, 17 December 1996 18:30 UTC

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From: Kester Fong <kfong@novell.com>
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Subject: Dialup subnet configuration -Reply
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Mike,
 please include me in your dicussion "thread".

 Two observations for scenario 1:
 - your Network Terminal Server needs to generate a unique client ID or
a hardware address equivalent that is unique over the lifetime of the
corresponding dhcp server session. Do you have any suggestion as to
what the proper strategy should be?
 - To be conservative on IP address allocation, effective lease time is
probably the connection time by default. Termination of a remote
connection is the termination of a lease.

Kester
Novell 
 

>>> Mike Carney - SunSoft Internet Engineering
<mwc@atlantic.east.sun.com> 12/16/96 07:46pm >>>
As promised at the San Jose WG meeting, here are the notes I produced
during
discussions with Krishnan and Jim: (What's missing is a suggestion by
Jim to
use IP tunneling as an additional method). If you're interested in following
a
thread on this topic, let me know.


								96/10/29 1.1
								mwc
ABSTRACT:
	This note describes two DHCP management scenarios for the
support of
	intermittently connected, remote clients. The first (Scenario #1)
	discusses the connection of single remote clients to the
	Corporate Network. The second (Scenario #2) discusses the
	connection and configuration of remote networks so that these
	remote networks can interact with the Corporate Network (as
well
	as other remote networks).

Scenario #1:
============
	DHCP management of Network Terminal Server IP addresses -
single remote
	client.

Discussion:

No concept of remote network. Clients dial directly into Corporate
network's Network Terminal Server (NTS), using PPP/IP. NTS serves as
DHCP
relay agent, and also uses DHCP to manage IPCP address pool.


                           --------------------------
                           |    Corporate Network   |
                           |       (DHCP servers)   |
                           --------------------------
                                        |
                                        |
                                        |
                           ---------------------------
                           | Network Terminal Server |
                           ---------------------------
                              /              \
                             /                \
                            /                  \
                           /                    \
                          /                      \
               ----------/------------------------\--------------
               |        /          Remote Site     \            |
               |       /                            \           |
               |      /                              \          |
               |     /                                \         |
               |  Client 1                         Client 2     |
               |                                                |
               |                                                |
               |                                                |
               |                                                |
               --------------------------------------------------


Upon connection request, the NTS performs a DHCP transaction to
acquire an
address for the remote client. The address is communicated to the client
through IPCP. If the client has software which implements DHCP, it can
later
issue a DHCPINFORM packet, which the NTS will relay to the DHCP
server(s). If
the client network software doesn't support DHCPINFORM, then NTS will
need to
provide proxy DHCP services (DHCPREQUEST for extending lease).
Optionally,
NTS could generate a DHCPRELEASE message when a client
disconnects, although
short lease times could accomplish the much of the same thing
asynchonously.

	Advantages:
	1) No changes to PPP required (IPCP).
	2) Works for clients who do not support DHCP.
	3) LCP security maintained (CHAP), although physical client
access
	   still a concern.
	4) Remote IP addresses (IPCP) managed by DHCP.
	5) Corporate routing tables protected. (only expose default route)

	Disadvantages:
	1) Single client connection. No concept of remote network.




Scenario #2:
============
	DHCP management of remote networks.

Discussion:

Remote site consists of a remote network which is intermittently
connected
to the corporate network. Consider the following diagram:


                           --------------------------
                           |    Corporate Network   |
                           |       (DHCP servers)   |
                           --------------------------
                                       |                         
                                       -                         
                        ______________|A|________________        
                       (               -                )        
                       (               .                )        
                       (               .                )        
                       (               .                )        
                       (               .                )        
                       (               .                )        
                       (               .                )        
                       (   Remote Connectivity Service  )        
                       (               .                )        
                       (               .                )        
                       (               .                )        
                       (               .                )        
                       (               .                )        
                       (________________________________)        
                                       .                         
                                       -                         
               -----------------------|B|------------------------
               |                       -                        |
               |                       |                        |
               |                       |                        |
               |                       |                        |
               |                       |                        |
               | Remote Site           |                        |
               |                       | Remote Network         |
               |     -------------------------------------      |
               |     |                                   |      |
               |  Client 1                            Client 2  |
               |                                                |
               |                                                |
               |                                                |
               |                                                |
               --------------------------------------------------



Connectivity between the Corporate network and the remote network is
provided by the ISP represented by the Remote Connectivity Service
(RCS), the simplest RCS being the telephone network. The devices of
interest are Device A, which serves as the connection point between
the RCS and the Corporate Network, and Device B, which serves as the
connection point between the RCS and the Remote Network.

	Device A
	========

		Device A has the following requirements:

			1) Must be able to identify (authenticate) various
			   instances of B devices. Note that this could
simply
			   be done using a dial-back handshake.

			2) Network connection to the Corporate network of
			   Device A will likely be manual for security
			   reasons, although I suppose the adventurous
			   could use DHCP to do this.

			3) Must provide routing and BOOTP relay agent
			   functionality to authenticated B devices. Note that
			   this includes multicasting various Corporate
			   Network routing information.

			4) When a Device B disconnects, Device A must
			   attempt to purge the route to the Device B
			   network from the Corporate Network.

	Device B
	========
		Instances of Device B have the following requirements:

			1) Must be configured to appropriately establish an
			   authenticated link-level connection to Device A.

			2) Should use IPCP/BOOTP/DHCP to acquire the IP
			   address and network mask for the LAN
connection
			   connecting to the Remote Network. If such
devices
			   are configured through DHCP, they may identify
			   themselves using an appropriate DHCP Client
Class
			   Identifier so that the DHCP administrators can
			   configure parameters appropriate to devices of
			   this type.

			3) Must provide routing and BOOTP relay agent
			   functionality to the connected LAN.

			4) NB: Clients of the Remote Network need to use
			   BOOTP or DHCP to configure their IP stacks.

	Advantages:
	1) Supports the connection and DHCP configuration of Remote
Networks
	   to the Corporate Network.
	2) Configuration of Device B's (and potentially Device A's)
through
	   DHCP, thus allowing for easy
	   renumbering/partitioning/administration.

	Disadvantages:
	1) Doesn't work for clients who do not support BOOTP/DHCP.
	2) Security is maintained between Device A and Device B,
although
	   there is no security on the Remote Network LAN (and thus the
	   Corporate Network.)
	3) Corporate routing tables exposed

	Security:
	Corporations could limit exposure by using an IP-level encryption
	facility such as Oakley or SKIP. This would prevent the
attachment of
	devices to the local LAN for the purpose of snooping network
traffic,
	although the authenticated LAN devices must be secured in some
	fashion. (mwc: Geez, I can see why more people implement
Scenario #1)

 

Mike Carney
SunSoft Internet Engineering
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
2 Elizabeth Drive
Chelmsford, MA 01824