55th IETF Meeting

Zeroconf Router BOF (zerouter)

Tuesday, November 19 at 0900-1130
===================================

CHAIR: Aidan Williams <aidan.williams@motorola.com>

AGENDA:

 5 mins Agenda outline/bluesheet                Williams

10 mins Problem statement                       Williams

10 mins Auto-Prefix Delegation for IPv6         Haberman/Martin
        (Ripple autoconfiguration)

10 mins Using OSPFv3 for IPv6 router autoconf   Chelius/Toutain
        Distributed collision avoidance
        draft-chelius-router-autoconf-00.txt

10 mins Zeroconf Subnet Allocation using UIAP   Dimitrelis
        Distributed claim/collide
        draft-white-zeroconf-uiap-00.txt
        draft-white-zeroconf-subnet-alloc-00.txt

10 mins Multi-link Subnet Support in IPv6       Thaler
        Single subnet, bridged at L3
        draft-ietf-ipv6-multilink-subnets-00.txt

10 mins Automatic Router Configuration Protocol Linton
        Configuration from a centralised server
        draft-linton-arcp-00.txt

30 mins Charter Discussion

DESCRIPTION
============

Mailing List:
  zerouter@internet.motlabs.com
  http://internet.motlabs.com/mailman/listinfo/zerouter

IP networks are in widespread use in environments like the home or
small office where there is no network administrator.  With IPv6
deployment delegating /48 prefixes and the increasing complexity and
variety of such networks, automatic configuration of routers is
desirable.  Host auto-configuration mechanisms exist for IPv6 and IPv4
however no protocols have been standardised that support
auto-configuration of a mesh of routers.

The objective of this working group is to define protocol mechanisms
that will allow consistent IP subnet prefixes to be automatically
assigned in a mesh of IPv4 or IPv6 routers.  Such networks are
expected to connect to IP infrastructure and will need to receive
configuration parameters in order to operate (e.g. delegated IPv6
prefix).

IP router auto-configuration is complementary to Layer-2 bridging.
Many commodity home networking products today use Layer-2 bridging and
work satisfactorily for simple networks.  Achieving a robust L2
bridged network requires 802.1d spanning tree (often not implemented).
Efficient multicast forwarding requires IGMP/MLD snooping, GARP/GMRP
or a similar mechanism.  Sometimes L2 bridging is not possible, for
example between IEEE1394 and ethernet, or between FDDI and ethernet.
A Layer-3 approach allows existing unicast and multicast routing
protocols to be used to create a robust and efficient auto-configured
network.

Work areas:

  1. Propagation of routing mesh configuration information

     A routing mesh may use a subnet prefix delegated from an ISP.
     Routers in the mesh must be able to acquire the available
     prefix(es) and lengths.

  2. Document host configuration scenarios for routing meshes

     Host configuration parameters from an ISP must pass through the
     router mesh to hosts (e.g. DNS domain suffix, DNS server).
     The use of host configuration protocols (e.g. DHCP, IPv6-SA) in a
     zerouter mesh will be documented.
     New host configuration protocols will NOT be specified.

  3. Automatic assignment of subnet prefixes to links

     Some solutions further subdivide prefixes delegated from an ISP,
     assigning a prefix per mesh link.  Protocols that generate
     consistent subnet prefixes in a mesh of routers will be
     specified.  Solutions of this type must recover from subnet
     prefix collision should it occur during a network merge.

  4. Document how unicast and multicast forwarding occurs in zerouter
     meshes

     IP packets must be forwarded through the mesh.  Destination nodes
     need to be located in the mesh of routers and efficient
     forwarding paths calculated between them.  Zerouter solutions
     re-using existing IGPs will document how they are applied.

Scope statements:

  - Solutions for both IPv4 and IPv6 are desired.

  - Initial solutions must support a large home network (10s of
    links).  Solutions with the potential to scale further will be
    encouraged.

  - Zerouter protocols are intended to be used in leaf networks.
    Auto-configuration of transit networks is out of scope.

  - Whilst there are some similarities to MANET routing protocols,
    zerouter protocols will be used in a different environment.
    Differences are no/low mobility, and a strong emphasis on address
    configuration.

  - Auto-configuration of L2 media parameters is out of scope
    (e.g. virtual circuit IDs and the like).

Existing drafts:

  draft-white-zeroconf-uiap-00.txt
  draft-white-zeroconf-subnet-alloc-00.txt
  draft-chelius-router-autoconf-00.txt
  draft-ietf-ipv6-multilink-subnets-00.txt
  draft-linton-arcp-00.txt

Other related drafts:

  Prefix delegation
    draft-haberman-ipngwg-auto-prefix-02.txt
    draft-troan-dhcpv6-opt-prefix-delegation-00.txt
    draft-lutchann-ipv6-delegate-option-00.txt

  Unmanaged network requirements
    draft-noisette-v6ops-unmannet-isp-reqts-00.txt

55th IETF Meeting - Zeroconf Router BOF (zerouter)