WG Action: Network-Based Mobility Extensions (netext)

[IESG Secretary <[e-mail]>]

A new IETF working group has been formed in the Internet Area.  For
additional information, please contact the Area Directors or the WG
Chairs.

Network-Based Mobility Extensions (netext)
-------------------------------------------------------------

Last Modified: 2009-05-19

Current Status: Active Working Group

Chair(s):
Basavaraj Patil <[e-mail]>
Rajeev Koodli <[e-mail]>

Internet Area Director(s):
Ralph Droms <[e-mail]>
Jari Arkko <[e-mail]>

Internet Area Advisor:
Jari Arkko <[e-mail]>

Mailing Lists:

General Discussion: [e-mail]
To Subscribe: http://www.mobileip.jp/mailman/listinfo/netext
Archive: http://www.mobileip.jp/pipermail/netext/

Description of Working Group:

Proxy Mobile IPv6, specified in RFC 5213, is a network-based mobility
protocol. It uses a Mobile Access Gateway (MAG) and a Local Mobility
Anchor (LMA) to allow hosts to move around within a domain while keeping
their address or address prefix stable. Proxy Mobile IPv6 has been
incorporated into a number of products and deployments are starting.
Certain deployment considerations, including localized routing and bulk
refresh of lifetime are already emerging.

The working group will focus on the following topics relevant for
network-based mobility:

Localized Routing: a specification for routing traffic between the
MAG(s) without involving the LMA. That is, allow the MAGs to route
traffic between hosts from one MAG to another, without being tunneled
all the way to the LMA. This reduces latency and backhaul load.
Applications such as voice can benefit from the reduced latency.

Bulk Refresh: a specification of improving the signaling load for
binding lifetime refresh. The current specifications call for the
handling of each mobility session independent of each other. When a
large number of hosts are served by a single MAG, a periodic refresh of
the binding lifetimes can lead to a signaling storm. The purpose of the
Bulk Refresh feature is to construct a protocol feature that allows such
refreshes to occur on a per-MAG basis.

LMA Redirection: a specification for allowing an LMA to redirect a MAG
to another LMA. This is primarily needed as a way to perform load
balancing. This functionality is complementary to implementation
techniques that allow distributed MAG implementations to move tasks
around without a visible impact at the protocol level, and the
initial LMA discovery work in the NETLMM WG. An applicability statement
describing the situations where the new functionality is or is not
applicable has to be included in the specification.

The work in this charter is entirely internal to the network and does
not affect hosts in any way (except perhaps through impacting packet
forwarding capacity visible to the hosts).

The proposed activity will be complementary to the existing IETF Working
Groups, notably the NETLMM and MEXT WGs. The NETEXT working group will
also act as the primary forum where new extensions on top of the Proxy
Mobile IPv6 protocol can be developed. The addition of such new
extensions to the working group involves addition of the extension to
this charter through the normal rechartering process.

This initial charter excludes a number of possible work items that were
discussed in the March 2009 BOF. The working group should continue the
discussion about a possible update of its charter and principles under
which the new work items must operate under. The completion of the work
items in the initial charter is not a requirement for the rechartering
to become possible.

Milestones

May 2009 WG chartered
July 2009 Initial WG draft on Bulk Refresh
July 2009 Decision on the inclusion of possible additional work items
September 2009 Initial WG draft on LMA Redirection
November 2009 Initial WG draft on Route Optimization
December 2009 Submit Bulk Refresh to IESG for publication as a Proposed
Standard RFC
January 2010 Submit LMA Redirection to IESG for publication as a
Proposed Standard RFC
April 2010 Submit Route Optimization to IESG for publication as a
Proposed Standard RFC