Softwire BOF (softwire)
xxxxxxxx, November x at xxxx-xxxx
=================================
CHAIR: Alain Durand <
[email protected]>
DESCRIPTION:
The Softwires Working Group is specifying the standardization of
discovery, control and encapsulation methods for connecting IPv4
networks across IPv6 networks, IPv6networks across IPv4 networks
in a way that will encourage multiple, inter-operable vendor
implementations. For various reasons (financial or political),
native IPv4 and/or IPv6 transport may not be available in all
cases, and there is need to tunnel IPv4 in IPv6 or IPv6 in IPv4
to cross a part of the network which is not IPv4 or IPv6 capable.
Configured tunnels or softwires are suited for the inter-networking
job. Non-interoperable tunneling mechanisms have been developed
based on the RFC3053 tunnel broker concept, and in addition,
standardized mechanisms like RFC2893, RFC2473, GRE, L2TP, etc. have
been used in some scenarios. Other deployments use non-standardized,
incomplete solutions. The lack of interoperable and/or standardized
solution in that space has been noted in the v6ops WG scenario
analysis.
The focus of this WG is to define a softwire setup negotiation
protocol and encapsulation to be use between a node and the
corresponding softwire end-point. Softwire configuration includes
two phases: softwire end point discovery and softwire set-up. A
primary goal is to reuse and extend (if necessary) existing
technologies.
In the softwire set-up phase, the initator and the ISP negotiate
the parameters necessary to establish the softwire. Those include:
- The encapsulation type: IPv4-over-IPv6 or IPv6-over-IPv4 with
a possible intermediary layer (e.g. UDP). This encapsulation
negotiation should be extensible to cover future methods of
both unicast and multicast traffic.
- How to obtain the IP addresses to use for the softwire end-points.
This could be done with an out-of-band mechanism or directly
negotiated at set-up phase.
In the softwire end point discovery phase, the initiator gets a name
or an IP address for the ISP-side end point of the softwire to
establish. This phase is orthogonal to the set-up one.
The initial milestone for this working group will be the set-up phase.
This WG is not chartered to work on the discovery phase and a re-charter
will be needed prior to undertaking such work; once the base work has
been completed (or is well under way), WG may consider re-chartering to
address discovery.
The WG will reuse existing technologies as much as possible and will
create additional building blocks when necessary
AGENDA:
- problem statement
- initial review of potential solutions
