Re: Last Call: <draft-ietf-mif-current-practices-09.txt> (Current Practices for Multiple Interface Hosts) to Informational RFC

[SM <[e-mail]>]

At 09:38 28-03-2011, The IESG wrote:
>The IESG has received a request from the Multiple Interfaces WG (mif) to
>consider the following document:
>- 'Current Practices for Multiple Interface Hosts'
>   <draft-ietf-mif-current-practices-09.txt> as an Informational RFC
>
>The IESG plans to make a decision in the next few weeks, and solicits
>final comments on this action. Please send substantive comments to the
>[e-mail] mailing lists by 2011-04-11. Exceptionally, comments may be

I missed the Last Call deadline.  This I-D is worth reading if the 
person is interested in multiple-interface solutions implemented in 
some widely used operating systems.

In Section 2.3.1:

   "On hosts with per-interface DNS server lists, different mechanisms
    are used to determine which DNS server is contacted for a given
    query.  In most cases, the first DNS server listed on the "primary"
    interface is queried first, with back off to other servers if an
    answer is not received."

This can result in the application trying to connect to the wrong 
destination node  (Section 4.1 of draft-ietf-mif-problem-statement-13).

In Section 3.1.3:

   "Depending on the network configuration, applications in reasearch In
    Motion (RIM) BlackBerry devices [BLACKBERRY] can use can use direct
    TCP/IP connectivity or different application proxys to establish
    connections over the wireless network."

There is a typo for "Research".  See also "can use".

In Section 3.2.1.3:

   "Windows uses a host-wide "effective" server list for an actual query,
    where the effective server list may be different for different names.
    In the list of DNS server addresses, the first server is considered
    the "primary" server, with all other servers being secondary."

I suggest using "preferred" and avoid "primary" or "secondary" when 
discussing DNS servers in this context.

In Section 3.2.1.3:

   "The Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) DHCP Client [ISCDHCP] and its
    derivative for OpenBSD [OPENBSDDHCLIENT] can be configured with
    specific instructions for each interface.  However, each time new
    configuration data is received by the host from a DHCP server,
    regardless of which interface it is received on, the DHCP client
    rewrites the global configuration data, such as the default routes
    and the DNS server list (in /etc/resolv.conf) with the most recent
    information received.  Therefore, the last configured interface
    always become the primary one.  The ISC DHCPv6 client behaves
    similarly.:

That rewrite can be overridden for OpenBSD dhclient ( 
http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq6.html#DHCPclient ).

Regards,
-sm