DHC M. Stapp Internet-Draft Cisco Systems, Inc. Expires: December 15, 2008 June 13, 2008 The DHCPv4 Relay Agent Identifier Suboption draft-ietf-dhc-relay-id-suboption-00.txt Status of this Memo By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet- Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt. The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. This Internet-Draft will expire on December 15, 2008. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2008). Abstract This memo defines a new Relay Agent Identifier suboption for the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol's (DHCP) Relay Agent Information option. The suboption carries a unique identifier configured or generated at the relay agent. The suboption allows a DHCP relay agent to include the unique identifier in the DHCP messages it sends. Stapp Expires December 15, 2008 [Page 1] Internet-Draft The Relay Agent Id Suboption June 2008 Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 3. Suboption Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4. Generating a Relay Identifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 6 Stapp Expires December 15, 2008 [Page 2] Internet-Draft The Relay Agent Id Suboption June 2008 1. Introduction The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv4 (DHCPv4) [RFC2131] provides IP addresses and configuration information for IPv4 clients. It includes a relay agent capability, in which network elements receive broadcast messages from clients and forward them to DHCP servers as unicast messages. In many network environments, relay agents add information to the DHCP messages before forwarding them, using the Relay Agent Information option [RFC3046]. Servers that recognize the relay information option echo it back in their replies. DHCP typically identifies clients based on information in their DHCP messages - such as the Client-Identifier option, or the value of the chaddr field. In some networks, however, the location of a client, its point of attachment to the network, is a more useful identifier. In factory-floor networks (commonly called 'Industrial' networks), for example, the role a device plays is often fixed and based on its location. Using manual address configuration is possible (and is common), but it would be beneficial if DHCP configuration could be applied to these networks. One way to provide connection-based identifiers for industrial networks is to have the network elements acting as DHCP relay agents supply information that the DHCP server can use as a client identifier. A straightforward way to form identifier information is to combine something that is unique within the scope of the network element with something that uniquely identifies that network element. There are several possibilities, but to improve interoperability we describe a dedicated identifier that can be associated with the network element and conveyed in a consistent way. This specification introduces a Relay Agent Identifier suboption for the Relay Information option. The Relay-Id suboption carries an sequence of octets that is intended to identify the relay agent uniquely within the administrative domain. The identifier may be administratively configured: in some networks it may be adequate to assign strings such as "switch1" and "switch2". Alternatively, the identifier may be generated by the relay agent itself, and we specify an algorithm from [RFC3315] for this purpose. 2. Terminology The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119]. DHCPv4 terminology is defined in [RFC2131], and the DHCPv4 Relay Stapp Expires December 15, 2008 [Page 3] Internet-Draft The Relay Agent Id Suboption June 2008 Agent Information Option in [RFC3046]. DUID terminology is in [RFC3315]. 3. Suboption Format Format of the Relay Agent Identifier suboption: 0 1 2 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ |SUBOPT_RELAY_ID| length | | +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ id (variable) | . . . . . . +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Where: SUBOPT_RELAY_ID [TBD] length the number of octets in the identifier; the minimum length is one. id 'length' octets of identifier 4. Generating a Relay Identifier As described in Section 1, in some situations it may be useful for network devices to generate identifiers themselves. Relay agents who send the Relay Agent Identifier suboption using identifiers that are not administratively-configured MUST be generated following the procedures in the DUID section of [RFC3315]. Relay agents who use generated identifiers should make the generated value available to their administrators via their user-interface, through a log entry, or through some other mechanism. 5. Security Considerations Security issues with the Relay Agent Information option and its use by servers in address assignment are discussed in [RFC3046] and [RFC4030]. Relay agents who send the Relay Agent Identifier suboption SHOULD use the Relay Agent Authentication suboption [RFC4030] to provide integrity protection. Stapp Expires December 15, 2008 [Page 4] Internet-Draft The Relay Agent Id Suboption June 2008 6. IANA Considerations We request that IANA assign a new suboption code from the registry of DHCP Agent Sub-Option Codes maintained in http://www.iana.org/assignments/bootp-dhcp-parameters. Relay Agent Identifier Suboption [TBD] 7. Normative References [RFC2131] Droms, R., "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol", RFC 2131, March 1997. [RFC3046] Patrick, M., "DHCP Relay Agent Information Option", RFC 3046, January 2001. [RFC3315] Droms, R., Bound, J., Volz, B., Lemon, T., Perkins, C., and M. Carney, "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6)", RFC 3315, July 2003. [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. [RFC4030] Stapp, M. and T. Lemon, "The Authentication Suboption for the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Relay Agent Option", RFC 4030, March 2005. Author's Address Mark Stapp Cisco Systems, Inc. 1414 Massachusetts Ave. Boxborough, MA 01719 USA Phone: +1 978 936 0000 Email: mjs@cisco.com Stapp Expires December 15, 2008 [Page 5] Internet-Draft The Relay Agent Id Suboption June 2008 Full Copyright Statement Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2008). This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights. This document and the information contained herein are provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY, THE IETF TRUST AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. 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The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org. Acknowledgment Funding for the RFC Editor function is provided by the IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA). Stapp Expires December 15, 2008 [Page 6]