Re: Comments on NHRP spec.,, modes of deployment etc.

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Bruce,

Thanks for responding.

> > NHRP spec authors:
> > 
> > I am confused by the way the current version of the spec. is worded 
> > in that it appears that modes of deployment are described as different ways
> > in which servers may interact.
> 
> The current plan is to remove server mode from the spec, as server mode (as it
> is currently described) falls apart when the IP network layer encapsulation
> is replaced by an LLC/SNAP encapsulation.  Removal of server mode should
> eliminate the confusion, no?

This will help.
> 
> Note that there are several side effects of this encapsulation change
> which have not been discussed/emphasized on the list.  Some which come to mind
> are:
> 
> - No more requirement for a router-alert option, or the equivalent.
>   Each hop within the NBMA now either supports NHRP, or (should!) fail to route
>   the NHRP traffic.
> 
> - Partial deployment of NHRP more problematic
>   An intermediate hop which does not support NHRP causes NHRP address
>   resolution to now fail.  It should still be possible for a subset of the
>   cloud to make use of NHRP...
> 
> > I would like the spec to define and differentiate between the NHRP
> > client-server interface
> 
> I see no difference from a protocol point of view.  Any station within
> the NBMA can potentially send both request and response packets.
> 

What I had in mind was that the NHRP clients register with, send queries to 
and get responses from NHRP servers. NHRP servers forward/resolve queries, 
and return responses to clients. These are different functions.
Listing the set of operations that an NHRP client must perform,
and then listing the operations that a server must perform would make
it clearer to potential implementators what needs to be built for a client
versus a server.
> > and the NHRP server-server interface, and keep
> > these separate from any discussion of modes of deployment.
> 
> There is no server to server protocol.
> 
Fine, but there are aspects of the NHRP protocol that are specific to 
client-server interaction (e.g. registration) and not to server-server 
interaction and vice versa.

David.