Suresh - a further comment on using standard stacks.  There is a potential 
problem with using RA as "sign of life": if the node receives an unsolicited RS 
before it sends an RA, the node will accept that RS and never send an RA.  The 
node waits a random interval between 0 and 1 seconds before sending an RS and 
the default delay time between unsolicited RSs is 600 seconds (all of these 
details from RFC 4861).  If I have the scenario and details (choosing default 
values) all correct, that means the node has an average 0.00083 probability 
(1/1200) of receiving an RS before sending an RA.  So, roughly 1 in 1,000 nodes 
will fail to send an RA and trigger the unicast RAs.

Happy to hear where I'm confused...

- Ralph

On Aug 26, 2010, at 8:18 PM 8/26/10, Ralph Droms wrote:

> Suresh...
> 
> On Aug 26, 2010, at 7:20 PM 8/26/10, Suresh Krishnan wrote:
> 
>> Hi Thomas,
>> 
>> On 10-08-26 08:37 AM, Thomas Narten wrote:
>>> I htink Woj is right and raises some fundamental issues.
>> 
>> Yes. And nobody said anything to the contrary. I problem is that the issue 
>> is orthogonal to the mechanism described in the RS mark draft. Even if 
>> draft-krishnan-6man-rs-mark was never written, this problem would still 
>> exist. I have tried to put the issue down in a draft so that we can discuss 
>> a workable solution. I would appreciate your comments on the draft.
>> 
>> http://www.ietf.org/id/draft-krishnan-6man-rs-lost-00.txt
>> 
>>> The RS/RA mechanism *assumes* that routers send out periodic multicast
>>> advertisements. Having nodes send out an RS to solicit RAs is a sort
>>> of optimization, intended to prod routers into sending out an RA
>>> immediately. But the sending of RSes is NOT a fundmental part of RAs.
>> 
>> Right. And in this specific scenario routers DO send out periodic multicast 
>> advertisements as expected.
> 
> But the multicast RAs don't advertise prefixes, right, so the subscriber 
> nodes won't be able to complete SLAAC?
> 
>>> Once a node has obtained an RA, the basic model assume that a node
>>> need not send any additional RSs out. Periodic RAs will supply the
>>> info it needs. This is made clear in RFC 4861, which says:
>> 
>> I am not sure I agree with you on this one. Again, quoting from scripture 
>> (Section 6.3.7 of RFC4861):
>> 
>> "Responses to solicited advertisements may contain more information
>> than unsolicited advertisements."
>> 
>> seems to indicate that the original ND spec anticipated the possibility that 
>> the periodic multicast RAs could contain less information that the solicited 
>> RAs.
> 
> I think the point is to use standard node stacks: Windows 7, OS X, Linux.  Do 
> any of them send periodic RSs?
> 
>>>  Once the host sends a Router Solicitation, and receives a valid
>>>  Router Advertisement with a non-zero Router Lifetime, the host MUST
>>>  desist from sending additional solicitations on that interface, until
>>>  the next time one of the above events occurs.
>>> where the "above events" refers to things like the interface
>>> restarting, attaching to a link again, etc.
>>> In other words, once a node has received RAs, the protocols do not
>>> require it to send additional RSs, even if it doesn't recieve RAs.
>>> The only reason RSes are there in the first place is to handle
>>> restarting nodes, who want to get an RA immediately instead of waiting
>>> for the next periodic one.
>>> This is not a flaw in ND. This was the intended design in an intended
>>> operating environment.
>>> What is proposed in Suresh's draft is a configuration that simply
>>> doesn't match a normal network. Namely, a single broadcast domain, but
>>> RAs tailored to individual clients.
>> 
>> I have to say that such networks are not uncommon and not limited to 
>> Broadband Forum access networks. e.g. A wireless lan network with multiple 
>> SSIDs and different vlans upstream to reach the router needs to act in 
>> exactly the same way in order to keep prefixes separate between the SSIDs.
>> 
>>> I am not yet convinced that the IETF needs to (or should) support such
>>> a configuration, as it is clear that even with the proposed option,
>>> there are other issues with the target environment.
>>> The Edge Router in the draft will be required to send unicast RAs to
>>> all individual devices. It will need to maintain sufficient state to
>>> do so, even if the Edge router restarts. Replacing the edge router
>>> with some other router will cause problems because the new router
>>> won't have the missing state, and there is no clear way to rebuild it.
>>> What is the BBF solution to this problem? Has it thought this through?
>>> A far better solution is for the AN node to have enough of an IP stack
>>> on it so that it can source RAs and provide the right information.
>>> Just because some "don't want to do this" (for cost or other reasons)
>>> doesn't mean we should support it, especially if we don't think the
>>> approach will be reliable or robust in practice. We should only bless
>>> an approach if we think it can be made to work in practice.
>> 
>> This draft is a request for allocation of a destination option for 
>> implementing a BBF specific mechanism. It is specifically not a request for 
>> the IETF to bless the mechanism. The mechanism has been described in the 
>> draft to provide the background for the usage, as requested by the WG.
>> 
>> The way I see it, without this option, SLAAC-only hosts will be left without 
>> any way of obtaining an address in these specific deployments.
> 
> But this option isn't all that is needed for the deployment architecture, and 
> it appears that there is a significant problem with that deployment 
> architecture.  It makes sense to me to hold off on approving this option 
> until the deployment architecture in which it will be used has been shown to 
> be deployable.
> 
>> Thanks
>> Suresh
> 
> - Ralph
> 

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