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[IPsec] ESP's use of dummy packets?

Joy Latten <latten@austin.ibm.com> Tue, 13 November 2007 16:36 UTC

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From: Joy Latten <latten@austin.ibm.com>
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Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 10:31:43 -0600
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Cc: tchicks@us.ibm.com, tgraf@redhat.com, herbert@gondor.apana.org.au
Subject: [IPsec] ESP's use of dummy packets?
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RFC 4303 introduces the use of dummy packets within ESP.
Section 2.6 states,
   A transmitter MUST be capable of generating dummy packets marked 
   with this value in the next protocol field, and a receiver MUST 
   be prepared to discard such packets, without indicating an error.

However, it is not clear to me whether an IPsec/ESP implementation MUST
use this feature. That is, it MUST send out dummy packets at random
intervals or in a way to shape the traffic. I interpreted the above 
statement to mean that an implementation must only have the capability. 

Further clarification if I have misinterpreted would be greatly appreciated.

regards,
Joy


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