Erik and Thomas,

Thanks for the review and the text - humble apologies for the delay.  I
and Wes discussed your reply.  Please see in line below between <hs> and
</hs>.  We will post a -07 soon taking care of these comments from you.

Hemant & Wes

-----Original Message-----
>From: Erik Nordmark [mailto:[email protected]] 
>Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 1:43 PM
>To: IPv6 Maintenance WG; Wes Beebee (wbeebee); Hemant Singh (shemant)
>Cc: Thomas Narten
>Subject: Editorial comments on draft-ietf-6man-subnet-model-06


>I had some editorial questions and comments on 
>draft-ietf-6man-ipv6-subnet-model-06 and I asked Thomas about that 
>(since he contributed some new text in this area). Based on Thomas and
I 
>discussion this, here are some suggested edits.

>Throughout the document the term "on-link" is still not used precisely
>in all cases. It is important to note that "on-link" is a relative
>statement, referring to one node's perspective. Other nodes on the
>same link may not have the same understanding that a particular
>destination is "on-link".

>---

>This doesn't look quite right:
>    1.  The original Neighbor Discovery (ND) specification [RFC4861]
was
>        unclear in its usage of the term on-link in a few places.  In
>        IPv6, an address is considered to be on-link (with respect to a
>        specific link), if the address has been assigned to an
interface
>        attached to that link.

>I read this as if the admin on node A configures some random IPv6
>address on an interface, then magically other nodes on the link will
>consider it to be on-link. It is clear that the address *is* on-link
>once it is configured, but it can't be *considered to be* on-link by
>others unless there is some protocol to convey that.

>The text would make sense if we just dropped "considered to be" above. 
>But a better rewrite would be to say:
>    1.  The original Neighbor Discovery (ND) specification [RFC4861]
>        was unclear in its usage of the term on-link in a few places.
>        In IPv6, an address is on-link (with respect to a specific
>        link), if the address has been assigned to an interface
>        attached to that link.  Any node attached to the link can send
>        a datagram directly to an on-link address without forwarding
>        the datagram through a router.  However, in order for a node to
>        to know that a destination is on-link, it must obtain
>        configuration information to that effect.  In IPv6, there are
>        two main ways of maintaining information about on-link
>        destinations.  First, a host maintains a Prefix List that
>        identifies ranges of addresses that are to be considered
>        on-link.  Second, Redirects can identify individual
>        destinations that are on-link; such Redirects update the
>        Destination Cache.

<hs> Agree with new text.
</hs>

>---

>I'm also confused by the use of Neighbor Cache in section 2. AFAIK it
is
>the prefix list plus the *destination cache* (plus default router list)
>which corresponds to the forwarding table in a host. The neighbor cache
>is merely a generalization of the ARP cache in IPv4. The text uses
>"neighbor cache" in two places where I'd expect to see "destination
cache".
>Thus I think we need to change FROM
>        The conceptual sending algorithm of [RFC4861] defines a Prefix
>        List and Neighbor Cache.  The combination of Prefix List and
>        Neighbor Cache form what many implementations consider to be
the
>        IP data forwarding table for a host.
>TO
>        The conceptual sending algorithm of [RFC4861] defines a Prefix
>        List and Destination Cache.  The combination of Prefix List and
>        Destination Cache form what many implementations consider to be
the
>        IP data forwarding table for a host.

>---

<hs> The reason we worded the text this way was to point out incorrect
implementations like BSD that had combined the ND-cache with the
Destination Cache and suffered from problems in on-link determination as
a result.  We could change the text to include the Prefix List, the
Destination Cache, the Default Router List, and Neighbor Cache.  You
see, once the next-hop determination is made, to forward a packet out,
the node has to look up the entry in the Neighbor Cache for the
link-layer address.  However, if we wanted to talk just about Layer 3
information, we could include just the Prefix List, the Destination
Cache, and the Default Router List. 
</hs>

>Later we have an extra '-' appear that doesn't existing in the quoted
>text in RFC 4861. The draft contains
>           If the Source Address is not the unspecified address and,
on-
>           link layers that have addresses, the solicitation includes a

>But the text in RFC 4861 says
>    description applies.  If the Source Address is not the unspecified
>    address and, on link layers that have addresses, the solicitation
>    includes a Source Link-Layer Address option, then the recipient

>The distinction between "on link layer" (one could also say "for link
>layers") and "on-link layers" might be important, hence I think the
>misquote should be fixed.

<hs> Good catch - will remove the extra hyphen.
</hs>

>---

>This should be "Destination Cache" instead of "Neighbor Cache":
>        determination can affect the state of ND: through updating the
>        Prefix List or the Neighbor Cache.  Through deprecating the
last

>---

<hs> Good catch, this should read "Destination Cache", not "Neighbor
Cache".  However, please note that the last sentence of this paragraph
should remain as "Neighbor Cache".
</hs>

>Old:

>    IPv4 implementations typically associate a netmask with an address
>    when an IPv4 address is assigned to an interface.  That netmask
>    together with the IPv4 address designates an on-link prefix.
>    Addresses that are covered by this prefix are viewed as on-link
i.e.,
>    traffic to these addresses is not sent to a router.  See section
>    3.3.1 in [RFC1122].  Prior to the deployment of Classless Inter-
>    Domain Routing (CIDR), an address's netmask could be derived
directly
>    from the address.  In the absence of specifying a specific netmask
>    when assigning an address, some implementations would fall back to
>    deriving the netmask from the class of the address.

>New:

>    IPv4 implementations typically associate a netmask with an address
>    when an IPv4 address is assigned to an interface.  That netmask
>    together with the IPv4 address designates an on-link prefix.  Nodes
>    consider addresses covered by an on-link prefix to be directly
>    attached to the same link as the sending node, i.e., they send
>    traffic for such addresses directly rather than to a router.  See
>    section 3.3.1 in [RFC1122].  Prior to the development of subnetting
>    [RFC950] and Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) [RFC1519], an
>    address's netmask could be derived directly from the address simply
>    by determining whether it was a Class A, B or C address.  Today,
>    assigning an address to an interface also requires specifying a
>    netmask to use.  In the absence of specifying a specific netmask
>    when assigning an address, some implementations would fall back to
>    deriving the netmask from the class of the address.

<hs> New text is fine by us.
</hs>

>---

>    The reception of a Prefix Information Option (PIO) with the L-bit
set
>    [RFC4861] and a non-zero valid lifetime creates (or updates) an
entry
>    in the Prefix List.  All the prefixes that are on the Prefix List,
>    i.e., have not yet timed out, are considered to be on-link.

>change last sentence to:

>    All prefixes on a host's Prefix List, i.e., have not yet timed out,
>    are considered to be on-link by that host.

<hs> New text is fine by us.
</hs>

>---

>    The on-link definition in the Terminology section of [RFC4861], as
>    modified by this document, defines the complete list of cases where
>    an address is considered on-link.  Individual address entries can
be

>Change sentence to:

>     The on-link definition in the Terminology section of [RFC4861], as
>     modified by this document, defines the complete list of cases
>     where a node considers an address to be on-link.

<hs> Agree with new text provided "node" in new text is changed to
"host".
</hs>

>---

>    IPv6 packets sent using the Conceptual Sending Algorithm as
described
>    in [RFC4861] only trigger address resolution for IPv6 addresses
that
>    are on-link.  Packets to any other address are sent to a default

>New:
>
>     IPv6 packets sent using the Conceptual Sending Algorithm as
described
>     in [RFC4861] only trigger address resolution for IPv6 addresses
>     that the sender considers to be on-link.

<hs> New text is fine by us.
</hs>

>---

>    2.  Note that Redirect Messages do not contain sufficient
information
>        to signal that an address is off-link.  Rather, they indicate a
>        preferred next-hop that is a more appropriate choice to use
than
>        the originator of the Redirect.  

>new: Add new paragraph and tweak the above for better transition.

>      2.  It should be noted that ND does not have a way to indicate a
>          destination is "off-link". Rather, a destination is assumed
>          to be off-link, unless there is explicit information
>          indicating that it is on-link. Such information may later
>          expire or be changed, in which case a destination may revert
>          back to being considered off-link, but that is different than
>          there being an explicit mechanism for signaling that a
>          destination is off-link.

>        Redirect Messages do not contain sufficient information to
>          signal that an address is off-link.  Instead, Redirect
>          Messages indicate a preferred next-hop that is a more
>          appropriate choice to use than the originator of the
>          Redirect. ...

<hs> New text looks great.
</hs>   

>---

>    3.  IPv6 also defines the term "neighbor" and "link" to refer to

>s/and "link"//

>It reads incorrectly in the current sentence. Changing it to "on-link"
>(was that the original intention?) is also not quite right since 
>"on-link" is a property of an IP address and not a property of a node.

<hs> Agree - removing "and link". 
</hs>

>---

>    2.  In the absence of other sources of on-link information,
including
>        Redirects, if the RA advertises a prefix with the on-link(L)
bit
>        set and later the Valid Lifetime expires, the host MUST then
>        consider addresses of the prefix to be off-link, as specified
by
>        the PIO paragraph of section 6.3.4 of [RFC4861].

>Better (above is not quite right):

>     2.  In the absence of other sources of on-link information,
>         including Redirects, if the RA advertises a prefix with the
>         on-link(L) bit set and later the Valid Lifetime expires, the
>         host MUST then update its Prefix List w.r.t. to the entry. In
>         most cases, this will result in the addresses covered by the
>         prefix defaulting back to being considered off-link, as
>         specified by the PIO paragraph of section 6.3.4 of
>         [RFC4861]. However, there are cases where an address could be
>         covered by multiple entries in the Prefix List, where
>         expiration of one prefix would result in destinations then
>         being covered by a different entry.

<hs> Agree with new text subject to changing "w.r.t. to" to "with
respect to".  Prefix list entries can overlap as you pointed out.
</hs>

>---

>    3.  Newer implementations, which are compliant with [RFC4861] MUST
>        adhere to the following rules.  Older implementations, which
are
>        compliant with [RFC2461] but not [RFC4861] may remain as is.
If
>        the Default Router List is empty and there is no other source
of
>        on-link information about any address or prefix:

>Better:

>    3.  Implementations compliant with [RFC4861] MUST adhere to the
>        following rules. If the Default Router List is empty and there
>        is no other source of on-link information about any address or
>        prefix:

<hs> Agree to new text.
</hs>

>---

>    This document addresses a security concern present in [RFC4861].
As
>    a result, the last bullet of the on-link definition in [RFC4861]
has
>    been retracted.  US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#472363 lists the
>    implementations affected.

>s/last/last two/

<hs> Agree to change.
</hs>

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