Ad-Hoc Network Autoconfiguration (autoconf) ------------------------------------------- Charter Last Modified: 2009-02-17 Current Status: Active Working Group Chair(s): Ryuji Wakikawa Thomas Clausen Internet Area Director(s): Jari Arkko Mark Townsley Internet Area Advisor: Jari Arkko Mailing Lists: General Discussion:autoconf@ietf.org To Subscribe: https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/autoconf Archive: http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/autoconf/current/maillist.html Description of Working Group: In order to communicate among themselves, ad hoc nodes (refer to RFC 2501) need to configure their network interface(s) with local addresses that are valid within an ad hoc network. Ad hoc nodes may also need to configure globally routable addresses, in order to communicate with devices on the Internet. From the IP layer perspective, a MANET presents itself as a L3 multi-hop network formed over a collection of links. Thus, each ad hoc node in the MANET is, potentially, acting as a L3 router in order to provide connectivity to other nodes within the MANET. Each ad hoc node maintains host routes to other ad hoc nodes within the MANET - in addition to network routes to destinations outside the MANET. If connected to the Internet, MANETs are edge networks, i.e. their boundary is defined by their edge routers. Due to the nature of the links over which a MANET is formed, ad hoc nodes within a MANET do not share access to a single multicast-capable link for signaling. This implies that the usual delivery semantics of link-local multicast and broadcast are not preserved within a MANET. The address autoconfiguration related protocol specifications such as RFCs 2462, 2461, as used in traditional IP networks, assume that subnet-local signals (e.g. link-local multicast signals) are received by each of the hosts on the particular subnet without being forwarded by the routers defining the subnet boundary. Hence, ad hoc networks (as defined and understood by the IETF MANET WG) cannot use these protocol specifications as-is. The main purpose of the AUTOCONF WG is to standardize mechanisms to be used by ad hoc nodes for configuring unique local and/or globally routable IPv6 addresses. The ad hoc nodes under consideration are, once configured, expected to be able to support multi-hop communication by running MANET routing protocols as developed by the IETF MANET WG. An AUTOCONF mechanism should not be dependent on any specific MANET routing protocol, however the routing protocol may provide for optimizations. With this in mind, the goals of AUTOCONF WG are to: - Produce a "MANET architecture" document defining the MANET architecture as is related to IP networks and the Internet. - Produce a "terminology and problem statement" document, defining the problem statement and goals for AUTOCONF. - Develop an IPv6 address autoconfiguration mechanism to be used by ad hoc nodes for configuring unique local addresses as well as, in cases where Internet connectivity exists, globally routable unique addresses. - Develop a mechanism to promote configured address uniqueness in the situation where different ad hoc networks merge. Issues and requirements related to prefix and/or address providing entities, such as an Internet gateway, will be addressed within the group to the extent that they are directly related to the AUTOCONF mechanisms. Security concerns related to AUTOCONF mechanisms will also be discussed within the group. The working group will reuse existing specifications whenever reasonable and possible. Goals and Milestones: Done Submit an initial 'MANET architecture' WG document Done Submit an initial 'terminology and problem statement' WG document Done Submit 'MANET architecture' document to IESG for publication as an informational RFC Sep 2007 Submit 'terminology and problem statement' document to IESG for publication as an informational RFC Dec 2007 Submit initial I-D of 'MANET router IPv6 prefix autoconfiguration mechanism' for WG review Mar 2008 Revise documents based upon implementation experience Proposed Standard Sep 2008 Submit 'MANET router IPv6 prefix autoconfiguration mechanism' to IESG for publication as Proposed Standard RFC Nov 2008 Close or recharter the WG Internet-Drafts: No Current Internet-Drafts. Request For Comments: None to date.