One document matched: draft-eastlake-ext-ip-ver-00.txt

INTERNET-DRAFT                                       Donald Eastlake 3rd
UPDATES BCP 37 / RFC 2780                                       Motorola
                                                           Scott Bradner
                                                      Harvard University
Expires: January 2001                                          July 2000



                          Extended IP Versions
                          -------- -- --------
                   <draft-eastlake-ext-ip-ver-00.txt>



Status of This Document

   Distribution of this draft, which is intended to become part of Best
   Current Practice 37, is unlimited. Comments should be sent to the
   authors.

   This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
   all provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026.  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
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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.



Abstract

   The current four bit Internet Protocol (IP) Version field provides
   for such a limited number of versions that very tight control must be
   exercised on their allocation as documented in [RFC 2780].
   Provisions are specified whereby one value of that field is extended
   to provide ample easily allocated values.



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Table of Contents

      Status of This Document....................................1
      Copyright Notice...........................................1
      Abstract...................................................1

      Table of Contents..........................................2

      1. Introduction............................................3
      2. Extended IP Versions....................................3
      3. IANA Considerations.....................................4
      4. Security Considerations.................................4

      References.................................................5
      Authors Addresses..........................................5

      Full Copyright Statement...................................6
      Expiration and File Name...................................6


































D. Eastlake 3rd, S. Bradner                                     [Page 2]


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1. Introduction

   Since the begining of the Internet Protocol (IP), it has had a four
   bit version field.  This was entirely adequate in the early days when
   the Internet engineering community was tiny and went fairly rapdily
   through version 1, 2, and 3, before stabilizing on version 4 (IPv4)
   under which the Internet has prospered [RFC 791].

   Recently, when a need was felt for specification of a new version,
   the remaining version number space was barely adequate to assign
   versions to the main contenders, leading to the selection of IPv6 as
   the main path [RFC 2460].  Furthermore, the Internet engineering
   community has grown by over two orders of magnitude since the
   specification of IP, with IETF attendence going from 15 to 3000
   potentially increasing demand for experimental parameter values.

   To continue the successful tradition of easy free availability of
   parameter values, IP version numbers need to be extended.  How
   beneficial this will be in this particular case is unclear.  But if
   the prospering of Internet Technology has taught us anything, it is
   that easy free availability of parameter values can lead to
   surprising creativity and vigor.  Perhaps this mechanism will do that
   or perhaps it will turn out to be almost unused, like the DNS Class
   mechanism.  But the cost is small and the potential benefit hard to
   bound.

   An equivalent 4 bit IP version number can be allocated for any
   extended IP version, when warranted, under the IP version allocation
   procedure specified in [RFC 2780].



2. Extended IP Versions

   The Internet Protocol packet format is defined to begin with a four
   bit Version as follows:

    0
    0 1 2 3 4 5
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |Version|  ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   To extend this versioning mechanism, this document specifies that the
   version number (TBD (suggest 1)) is followed by a four bit Extension
   Type as shown below.  It is intended that further information later
   in the packet, depending on the extension type, indicate the exact
   extended version.




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    0                   1
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  (TBD)  |ExtType|  ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   Extension type 1 is allocated for an ample supply of First Come First
   Served, easy to obtain, extended IP verison numbers, as follows:

    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
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |  (TBD)  |   1   |      extension type 1 subverion number      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

   The subversion number is considered an unsigned integer in network
   byte order in the range 0 - 16,777,215 assigned sequentially.  This
   structure causes the remainder of the IP packet to be 32 bit aligned.



3. IANA Considerations

   IP Version number (TBD (suggest 1)) is allocated for extended IP
   Versions as documnted herein.

   IP extention type 1 is allocated as specified herein.  Allocation of
   other IP extension types requires an "IESG approval" or "Standards
   Action" as defined in RFC 2434.

   Specific three byte extension values of type one are allocated
   sequentially on a First Come First Served basis.



4. Security Considerations

   Firwalls or other software which wishes to pass only packets they
   understand should block all IP version extension types and specific
   extension values that are not kown to them.










D. Eastlake 3rd, S. Bradner                                     [Page 4]


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References

   [RFC 791] - "Internet Protocol", J. Postel, September 1981.

   [RFC 2434] - "Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section
   in RFCs", T.  Narten, H. Alvestrand, October 1998.

   [RFC 2460] - "Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification",
   Deering, S. and R. Hinden, December 1998.

   [RFC 2780] - "IANA Allocation Guidelines For Values In the Internet
   Protocol and Related Headers", S. Bradner, V. Paxon, March 2000.



Authors Addresses

   Scott Bradner
   Harvard University
   Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

   Telephone:   +1 617 495 3864
   EMail:       sob@harvard.edu


   Donald E. Eastlake 3rd
   Motorola
   140 Forest Avenue
   Hudson, MA 01749 USA

   Telephone:   +1-978-562-2827 (h)
                +1-508-261-5434 (w)
   FAX:         +1-508-261-4447 (w)
   EMail:       Donald.Eastlake@motorola.com


















D. Eastlake 3rd, S. Bradner                                     [Page 5]


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Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.

   This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
   others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
   or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
   and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
   kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
   included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
   document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
   the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
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   followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
   English.

   The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
   revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

   This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
   TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS 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.




Expiration and File Name

   This draft expires Janaury 2001.

   Its file name is draft-eastlake-ext-ip-ver-00.txt.
















D. Eastlake 3rd, S. Bradner                                     [Page 6]