On Oct 16, 2008, at Oct 16, 2008,10:18 AM, Iljitsch van Beijnum wrote:
The error in your reasoning is in thinking that "forked paths will
simplify the network." It complicates it. We need a single place to
look for host configuration, not two and certainly not three.
So why isn't there a subnet length field in DHCPv6 address assignment?
My understanding is (and I would happily have my understanding
corrected) that there should *never* be a prefix length associated
with address assignment, whether that address comes from DHCPv6,
manual address assignment, etc. Prefix length is not an attribute of
an address, either an address assigned to an interface or an address
used for determining packet forwarding; rather, prefix length is an
attribute of the prefixes in the Prefix List (RFC 4861), as obtained
from RAs.
The idea of a prefix length associated with an assigned address is a
carryover from IPv4, as a shorthand for providing prefix information
to an IPv4 stack. IPv6 clearly separates assignment of an address to
an interface from assignment of prefixes to links.
If DHCPv6 were to be extended, a new option for prefix information
would carry the prefix, length and lifetime information, independent
of any assigned addresses.
- Ralph
--------------------------------------------------------------------
IETF IPv6 working group mailing list
[email protected]
Administrative Requests: https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ipv6
--------------------------------------------------------------------
