Re: [ipwave] Intdir early review of draft-ietf-ipwave-ipv6-over-80211ocb-34

[Alexandre Petrescu <[e-mail]>]

Hi Pascal,

Le 04/03/2019 à 12:24, Pascal Thubert a écrit :
[...]
> "   An 'adaptation' layer is inserted between a MAC layer and the
>     Networking layer.  This is used to transform some parameters between
>     their form expected by the IP stack and the form provided by the MAC
>     layer.
> "
> Is this different from what an AP does when it bridges Wi-Fi to Ethernet? Is
> this IETF business?

No and yes:

No, this Ethernet Adaptation Layer is not different from what an AP does 
when it bridges WiFi to Ethernet.  All Access Points do this Ethernet 
Adaptation Layer.

Yes, it is debatable whether it is an IETF or IEEE business, but I tend 
to say it is an IETF business now.  There are three reasons for that:

1. IETF recently defined such adaptation layers several times (6lowpan 
comes to mind and more).

2. IEEE does not define such an adaptation layer - there is no IEEE 
document that describes in a manner that a simple programmer understands 
how this adaptation layer works (some have referred informally to IEEE 
'bridging' topic but I did not see that document myself).

3. not least, a particular field that this Ethernet Adaptation Layer 
(EAL) must fill is ethertype 0x86dd, whose value _is_ more under the 
authority of IETF than of IEEE.

Do you think otherwise?

Alex
[...]