This work aims to document all usage of IPv4 addresses in currently
deployed IETF Routing Area documented standards. Also, throughout
this document there are discussions on how routing protocols might be
updated to support IPv6 addresses.
This material was originally presented within a single document, but
in an effort to have the information in a manageable form, it has
subsequently been split into 7 documents conforming to the current
IETF main areas (Application [2], Internet [3], Operations &
Management [4], Routing [this document], Security [5], Sub-IP [6] and
Transport [7]).
The general overview, methodology used during documentation and scope
of the investigation for the whole 7 documents can be found in the
introduction of this set of documents [1].
It is important to mention that to perform this study the following
classes of IETF standards are investigated: Full, Draft, and
Proposed, as well as Experimental. Informational, BCP and Historic
RFCs are not addressed. RFCs that have been obsoleted by either
newer versions or as they have transitioned through the standards
process are also not covered.
The main Sections of this document are described below.
Sections 3, 4, 5, and 6 each describe the raw analysis of Full,
Draft, Proposed Standards and Experimental RFCs. Each RFC is
discussed in its turn starting with RFC 1 and ending (around) RFC
3100. The comments for each RFC are "raw" in nature. That is, each
RFC is discussed in a vacuum and problems or issues discussed do not
"look ahead" to see if the problems have already been fixed.
Section 7 is an analysis of the data presented in Sections 3, 4, 5,
and 6. It is here that all of the results are considered as a whole
and the problems that have been resolved in later RFCs are
correlated.
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Full Internet Standards (most commonly simply referred to as
"Standards") are fully mature protocol specification that are widely
implemented and used throughout the Internet.
Draft Standards represent the penultimate standard level in the IETF.
A protocol can only achieve draft standard when there are multiple,
independent, interoperable implementations. Draft Standards are
usually quite mature and widely used.
Proposed Standards are introductory level documents. There are no
requirements for even a single implementation. In many cases
Proposed are never implemented or advanced in the IETF standards
process. They therefore are often just proposed ideas that are
presented to the Internet community. Sometimes flaws are exposed or
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they are one of many competing solutions to problems. In these later
cases, no discussion is presented as it would not serve the purpose
of this discussion.
5.1. RFC 1195 Use of OSI IS-IS for routing in TCP/IP and dual
environments
This document specifies a protocol for the exchange of IPv4 routing
information.
Version 1 (IDPR)
There are no IPv4 dependencies in this protocol.
5.6. RFC 1517 Applicability Statement for the Implementation of
Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR)
This document deals exclusively with IPv4 addressing issue.
5.7. RFC 1518 An Architecture for IP Address Allocation with CIDR
This document deals exclusively with IPv4 addressing issue.
5.8. RFC 1519 Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR): an Address
Assignment and Aggregation Strategy
This document deals exclusively with IPv4 addressing issue.
5.9. RFC 1582 Extensions to RIP to Support Demand Circuits
This protocol is an extension to a protocol for exchanging IPv4
routing information.
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This document defines the use of IPv4 multicast to an IPv4 only
routing protocol.
5.11. RFC 1793 Extending OSPF to Support Demand Circuits
There are no IPv4 dependencies in this protocol other than the fact
that it is a new functionality for a routing protocol that only
supports IPv4 networks.
There are no IPv4 dependencies in this protocol other than the fact
that it is a new functionality for a routing protocol that only
supports IPv4 networks.
The protocol enhancements have no IPv4 dependencies, even though the
base protocol, BGP-4, is IPv4 only routing protocol.
5.18. RFC 2545 Use of BGP-4 Multiprotocol Extensions for IPv6 Inter-
Domain Routing
This RFC documents IPv6 routing methods and is not discussed in this
document.
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This protocol is only defined for IPv4. The document states in the
Appendix:
o IPv6 as Delivery and/or Payload Protocol
This specification describes the intersection of GRE currently
deployed by multiple vendors. IPv6 as delivery and/or payload
protocol is not included.
5.21. RFC 2796 BGP Route Reflection - An Alternative to Full Mesh IBGP
Although the protocol enhancements have no IPv4 dependencies, the
base protocol, BGP-4, is IPv4 only routing protocol. This
specification updates but does not obsolete RFC 1966.
In the Abstract:
Currently BGP-4 is capable of carrying routing information only for
IPv4. This document defines extensions to BGP-4 to enable it to
carry routing information for multiple Network Layer protocols (e.g.,
IPv6, IPX, etc...). The extensions are backward compatible - a
router that supports the extensions can interoperate with a router
that doesn't support the extensions.
The document is therefore not examined further in this document.
5.23. RFC 2890 Key and Sequence Number Extensions to GRE
Although the protocol enhancements have no IPv4 dependencies, the
base protocol, BGP-4, is IPv4 only routing protocol.
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Experimental RFCs typically define protocols that do not have wide
scale implementation or usage on the Internet. They are often
propriety in nature or used in limited arenas. They are documented
to the Internet community in order to allow potential
interoperability or some other potential useful scenario. In a few
cases they are presented as alternatives to the mainstream solution
to an acknowledged problem.
This proposal is IPv4 limited:
This record is designed for easy general purpose extensions in the
DNS, and its content is a text string. The RX record will contain
three fields: A record identifier, A cost indicator, and An IP
address.
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The three strings will be separated by a single comma. An example of
record would thus be:
___________________________________________________________________
| domain | type | record | value |
| - | | | |
|*.27.32.192.in-addr.arpa | IP | TXT | RX, 10, 10.0.0.7|
|_________________________|________|__________|___________________|
which means that for all hosts whose IP address starts by the three
octets "192.32.27" the IP host "10.0.0.7" can be used as a gateway,
and that the preference value is 10.
There are no IPv4 dependencies in this protocol other than the fact
that it is a new functionality for a routing protocol that only
supports IPv4 networks.
6.5. RFC 1863 A BGP/IDRP Route Server alternative to a full mesh
routing
This protocol is both IPv4 and IPv6 aware and needs no changes.
6.6. RFC 1966 BGP Route Reflection An alternative to full mesh IBGP
Although the protocol enhancements have no IPv4 dependencies, the
base protocol, BGP-4, is IPv4 only routing protocol. This
specification has been updated by RFC 2796.
6.7. RFC 2189 Core Based Trees (CBT version 2) Multicast Routing
The document specifies a protocol that depends on IPv4 multicast.
There are many packet formats defined that show IPv4 usage.
6.8. RFC 2201 Core Based Trees (CBT) Multicast Routing Architecture
See previous Section for the IPv4 limitation in this protocol.
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6.9. RFC 2337 Intra-LIS IP multicast among routers over ATM using
Sparse Mode PIM
This protocol is designed for IPv4 multicast.
In the initial survey of RFCs, 23 positives were identified out of a
total of 46, broken down as follows:
Standards: 3 out of 3 or 100.00%
Draft Standards: 1 out of 3 or 33.33%
Proposed Standards: 13 out of 29 or 44.83%
Experimental RFCs: 6 out of 11 or 54.54%
Of those identified many require no action because they document
outdated and unused protocols, while others are document protocols
that are actively being updated by the appropriate working groups.
Additionally there are many instances of standards that should be
updated but do not cause any operational impact if they are not
updated. The remaining instances are documented below. The authors
have attempted to organize the results in a format that allows easy
reference to other protocol designers. The assignment of statements
has been based entirely on the authors perceived needs for updates
and should not be taken as an official statement.
This problem has been fixed by RFC 2081, RIPng Protocol Applicability
Statement.
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This problem has been fixed in RFC 2858 Multiprotocol Extensions for
BGP-4, RFC 2545 Use of BGP-4 Multiprotocol Extensions for IPv6
Inter-Domain Routing, and in [8].
RFC 2858 extends BGP to support multi-protocol extensions that allows
routing information for other address families to be exchanged. RFC
2545 further extends RFC 2858 for full support of exchanging IPv6
routing information and additionally clarifies support of the
extended BGP-4 protocol using TCP+IPv6 as a transport mechanism. RFC
1771, 2858 & 2545 must be supported in order to provide full IPv6
support.
Note also that all the BGP extensions analyzed previously in this
memo function without changes with the updated version of BGP-4.
The contents of this specification has been treated in various IPv6
addressing architecture RFCs, see RFC 3513 & 3587.
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and Aggregation Strategy (RFC 1519)
The contents of this specification has been treated in various IPv6
addressing architecture RFCs, see RFC 3513 & 3587.
This protocol is a routing protocol for IPv4 multicast routing. It
is no longer in use and need not be redefined.
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This protocol relies on IPv4 IGMP Multicast and a new protocol
standard may be produced. However, the multicast routing protocol
has never been in much use and is no longer relevant; no action is
necessary.
Mode PIM (RFC 2337)
This protocol is designed for IPv4 multicast. However, Intra-LIS IP
multicast among routers over ATM is not believed to be relevant
anymore. A new mechanism may be defined for IPv6 multicast.
QoS extensions for OSPF were never used for OSPFv2, and there seems
to be little need for them in OSPFv3.
However, if necessary, an update to this document could simply define
the use of the IPv6 Traffic Class field since it is defined to be
exactly the same as the IPv4 TOS field.
The original author, Philip J. Nesser II, would like to acknowledge
the support of the Internet Society in the research and production of
this document.
He also would like to thanks his partner in all ways, Wendy M.
Nesser.
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RFC 3791 IPv4 Addresses in the IETF Routing Area June 2004
Cesar Olvera would like to thanks Pekka Savola for an extended
guidance and comments for the edition of this document, and Jordi
Palet for his support and reviews.
Additionally, he would further like to thank Andreas Bergstrom, Brian
Carpenter, Jeff Haas, Vishwas Manral, Gabriela Medina, Venkata Naidu,
Jeff Parker and Curtis Villamizar for valuable feedback.
[1] Nesser, II, P. and A. Bergstrom, Editor, "Introduction to the
Survey of IPv4 Addresses in Currently Deployed IETF Standards",
RFC 3789, June 2004.
[2] Sofia, R. and P. Nesser, II, "Survey of IPv4 Addresses in
Currently Deployed IETF Application Area Standards", RFC 3795,
June 2004.
[3] Mickles, C. and P. Nesser, II, "Internet Area: Survey of IPv4
Addresses Currently Deployed IETF Standards", RFC 3790, June
2004.
[4] Nesser, II, P. and A. Bergstrom, "Survey of IPv4 addresses in
Currently Deployed IETF Operations & Management Area
Standards", RFC 3796, June 2004.
[5] Nesser, II, P. and A. Bergstrom. "Survey of IPv4 Addresses in
Currently Deployed IETF Security Area Standards", RFC 3792,
June 2004.
[6] Nesser, II, P. and A. Bergstrom. "Survey of IPv4 Addresses in
Currently Deployed IETF Sub-IP Area Standards", RFC 3793, June
2004.
[7] Nesser, II, P. and A. Bergstrom "Survey of IPv4 Addresses in
Currently Deployed IETF Transport Area Standards", RFC 3794,
June 2004.
[8] Chen, E. and J. Yuan, "AS-wide Unique BGP Identifier for BGP-
4", Work in Progress, December 2003.
[9] Hopps, C., "Routing IPv6 with IS-IS", Work in Progress, January
2003.
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RFC 3791 IPv4 Addresses in the IETF Routing Area June 2004
[10] Hinden, R., "Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol for IPv6", Work
in Progress, February 2004.
Please contact the authors with any questions, comments or
suggestions at:
Cesar Olvera Morales
Researcher
Consulintel
San Jose Artesano, 1
28108 - Alcobendas
Madrid, Spain
Phone: +34 91 151 81 99
Fax: +34 91 151 81 98
EMail: cesar.olvera@consulintel.es
Philip J. Nesser II
Principal
Nesser & Nesser Consulting
13501 100th Ave NE, #5202
Kirkland, WA 98034
Phone: +1 425 481 4303
EMail: phil@nesser.com
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RFC 3791 IPv4 Addresses in the IETF Routing Area June 2004
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). This document is subject
to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and
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This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
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Acknowledgement
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
Internet Society.
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