Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                           F. Gont
Request for Comments: 6918                        UTN-FRH / SI6 Networks
Obsoletes: 1788                                             C. Pignataro
Updates: 792, 950                                          Cisco Systems
Category: Standards Track                                     April 2013
ISSN: 2070-1721


            Formally Deprecating Some ICMPv4 Message Types

Abstract

  A number of ICMPv4 message types have become obsolete in practice,
  but have never been formally deprecated.  This document deprecates
  such ICMPv4 message types, thus cleaning up the corresponding IANA
  registry.  Additionally, it updates RFC 792 and RFC 950, obsoletes
  RFC 1788, and requests the RFC Editor to change the status of RFC
  1788 to Historic.

Status of This Memo

  This is an Internet Standards Track document.

  This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
  (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
  received public review and has been approved for publication by the
  Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
  Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.

  Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
  and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
  http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6918.

Copyright Notice

  Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
  document authors.  All rights reserved.

  This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
  Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
  (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
  publication of this document.  Please review these documents
  carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
  to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
  include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
  the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
  described in the Simplified BSD License.




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RFC 6918            Deprecating Some ICMPv4 Messages          April 2013


Table of Contents

  1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
  2.  Discussion of Deprecated ICMPv4 Message Types . . . . . . . . . 3
    2.1.  Alternate Host Address (Type 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
    2.2.  Information Request (Type 15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
    2.3.  Information Reply (Type 16) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
    2.4.  Address Mask Request (Type 17)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
    2.5.  Address Mask Reply (Type 18)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
    2.6.  Traceroute (Type 30)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
    2.7.  Datagram Conversion Error (Type 31) . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
    2.8.  Mobile Host Redirect (Type 32)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
    2.9.  IPv6 Where-Are-You (Type 33)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
    2.10. IPv6 I-Am-Here (Type 34)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
    2.11. Mobile Registration Request (Type 35) . . . . . . . . . . . 4
    2.12. Mobile Registration Reply (Type 36) . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
    2.13. Domain Name Request (Type 37) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
    2.14. Domain Name Reply (Type 38) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
    2.15. SKIP (Type 39)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
  3.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
  4.  Changing the Status of RFC 1788 to Historic . . . . . . . . . . 6
  5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
  6.  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
  7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
    7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
    7.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.  Introduction

  A number of ICMPv4 [RFC0792] message types have been specified over
  the years.  A number of these message types have become obsolete in
  practice, but have never been formally deprecated.  This document
  deprecates such ICMPv4 message types, "cleaning up" the corresponding
  IANA registry.  Additionally, it updates RFC 792 and RFC 950,
  obsoletes RFC 1788, and requests the RFC Editor to change the status
  of RFC 1788 to Historic.

  Section 2 discusses each of the obsoleted ICMPv4 messages.  Section 4
  requests the RFC Editor to change the status of RFC 1788 to Historic.












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RFC 6918            Deprecating Some ICMPv4 Messages          April 2013


2.  Discussion of Deprecated ICMPv4 Message Types

  The following subsections discuss the details of those ICMPv4 message
  types being deprecated, based on publicly available information
  and/or information provided by the requester of the corresponding
  assignment.

2.1.  Alternate Host Address (Type 6)

  There is no publicly available information about this message type.

2.2.  Information Request (Type 15)

  This message type is specified in [RFC0792].  However, other
  mechanisms (such as DHCP [RFC2131]) have superseded this message type
  for the purpose of host configuration.

2.3.  Information Reply (Type 16)

  This message type is specified in [RFC0792].  However, other
  mechanisms (such as DHCP [RFC2131]) have superseded this message type
  for the purpose of host configuration.

2.4.  Address Mask Request (Type 17)

  This message type is specified in [RFC0950] and was meant to provide
  a means to obtain the subnet mask.  However, other mechanisms (such
  as DHCP [RFC2131]) have superseded this message type for the purpose
  of host configuration.

2.5.  Address Mask Reply (Type 18)

  This message type is specified in [RFC0950] and was meant to provide
  a means to obtain the subnet mask.  However, other mechanisms (such
  as DHCP [RFC2131]) have superseded this message type for the purpose
  of host configuration.

2.6.  Traceroute (Type 30)

  This message type is specified in [RFC1393] and was meant to provide
  an alternative means to discover the path to a destination system.
  This message type has never been widely deployed.  The status of
  [RFC1393] has been changed to Historic by [RFC6814], and the
  corresponding option this message type relies on (Traceroute, Type
  82) has been formally obsoleted by [RFC6814].






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2.7.  Datagram Conversion Error (Type 31)

  This message type was originally meant to report conversion errors in
  the TP/IX [RFC1475] protocol.  However, TP/IX was never widely
  implemented or deployed, and the status of [RFC1475] is Historic.

2.8.  Mobile Host Redirect (Type 32)

  This message type was originally specified as part of an experimental
  protocol for IP Mobile Hosts [CMU-MOBILE].  However, it was never
  widely implemented or deployed.

2.9.  IPv6 Where-Are-You (Type 33)

  This message type was originally specified in [SIMPSON-DISCOV] for
  the purpose of identification of adjacent IPv6 nodes.  It was never
  widely deployed or implemented.

2.10.  IPv6 I-Am-Here (Type 34)

  This message type was originally specified in [SIMPSON-DISCOV] for
  the purpose of identification of adjacent IPv6 nodes.  It was never
  widely deployed or implemented.

2.11.  Mobile Registration Request (Type 35)

  This message type was originally meant for transparent routing of
  IPv6 datagrams to Mobile Nodes [SIMPSON-MOBILITY].  It was never
  widely deployed or implemented.

2.12.  Mobile Registration Reply (Type 36)

  This message type was originally meant for transparent routing of
  IPv6 datagrams to Mobile Nodes [SIMPSON-MOBILITY].  It was never
  widely deployed or implemented.

2.13.  Domain Name Request (Type 37)

  This message type was originally specified in [RFC1788] for the
  purpose of learning the Fully Qualified Domain Name associated with
  an IP address.  This message type was never widely deployed or
  implemented.









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2.14.  Domain Name Reply (Type 38)

  This message type was originally specified in [RFC1788] for the
  purpose of learning the Fully Qualified Domain Name associated with
  an IP address.  This message type was never widely deployed or
  implemented.

2.15.  SKIP (Type 39)

  This message type was originally specified in [SKIP-ADP] for
  informing supported capabilities in the SKIP [SKIP] protocol.  This
  message type was never widely deployed or implemented.

3.  IANA Considerations

  The "Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Parameters" registry
  [IANA-ICMP] contains the list of the currently assigned ICMP message
  Types.

  This document formally deprecates the following ICMP message Types
  and requests IANA to mark them as such in the corresponding registry
  [IANA-ICMP]:

  o  Alternate Host Address (Type 6)

  o  Information Request (Type 15)

  o  Information Reply (Type 16)

  o  Address Mask Request (Type 17)

  o  Address Mask Reply (Type 18)

  o  Traceroute (Type 30)

  o  Datagram Conversion Error (Type 31)

  o  Mobile Host Redirect (Type 32)

  o  IPv6 Where-Are-You (Type 33)

  o  IPv6 I-Am-Here (Type 34)

  o  Mobile Registration Request (Type 35)

  o  Mobile Registration Reply (Type 36)

  o  Domain Name Request (Type 37)



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RFC 6918            Deprecating Some ICMPv4 Messages          April 2013


  o  Domain Name Reply (Type 38)

  o  SKIP (Type 39)

     The ICMPv4 Source Quench Message (Type 4) has already been
     deprecated by [RFC6633].

4.  Changing the Status of RFC 1788 to Historic

  This document requests the RFC Editor to change the status of
  [RFC1788] to Historic.

     Both [RFC1385] and [RFC1393] already have a status of Historic.
     The status of other RFCs (such as [RFC0792] and [RFC0950]) is not
     changed since other parts of these documents are still current.

5.  Security Considerations

  This document does not modify the security properties of the ICMPv4
  message types being deprecated.  However, formally deprecating these
  message types serves as a basis for, e.g., filtering these packets.

6.  Acknowledgments

  The authors would like to thank Ron Bonica and Joel Halpern for their
  guidance.

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

  [RFC0792]    Postel, J., "Internet Control Message Protocol", STD 5,
               RFC 792, September 1981.

  [RFC6814]    Pignataro, C. and F. Gont, "Formally Deprecating Some
               IPv4 Options", RFC 6814, November 2012.

7.2.  Informative References

  [CMU-MOBILE] Johnson, D., "Transparent Internet Routing for IP Mobile
               Hosts", Work in Progress, July 1993.

  [IANA-ICMP]  Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, "Internet Control
               Message Protocol (ICMP) Parameters", September 2012,
               <http://www.iana.org/assignments/icmp-parameters>.

  [RFC0950]    Mogul, J. and J. Postel, "Internet Standard Subnetting
               Procedure", STD 5, RFC 950, August 1985.



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RFC 6918            Deprecating Some ICMPv4 Messages          April 2013


  [RFC1385]    Wang, Z., "EIP: The Extended Internet Protocol",
               RFC 1385, November 1992.

  [RFC1393]    Malkin, G., "Traceroute Using an IP Option", RFC 1393,
               January 1993.

  [RFC1475]    Ullmann, R., "TP/IX: The Next Internet", RFC 1475,
               June 1993.

  [RFC1788]    Simpson, W., "ICMP Domain Name Messages", RFC 1788,
               April 1995.

  [RFC2131]    Droms, R., "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol",
               RFC 2131, March 1997.

  [RFC6633]    Gont, F., "Deprecation of ICMP Source Quench Messages",
               RFC 6633, May 2012.

  [SIMPSON-DISCOV]
               Simpson, W., "IPv6 Neighbor Discovery -- ICMP Message
               Formats", Work in Progress, January 1995.

  [SIMPSON-MOBILITY]
               Simpson, W., "IPv6 Mobility Support", Work in Progress,
               November 1994.

  [SKIP]       Aziz, A., Markson, T., and H. Prafullchandra, "Simple
               Key-Management For Internet Protocols (SKIP)", Work
               in Progress, December 1995.

  [SKIP-ADP]   Aziz, A., Markson, T., and H. Prafullchandra, "SKIP
               Algorithm Discovery Protocol", Work in Progress,
               December 1995.


















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Authors' Addresses

  Fernando Gont
  UTN-FRH / SI6 Networks
  Evaristo Carriego 2644
  Haedo, Provincia de Buenos Aires  1706
  Argentina

  Phone: +54 11 4650 8472
  EMail: [email protected]
  URI:   http://www.si6networks.com


  Carlos Pignataro
  Cisco Systems
  7200-12 Kit Creek Road
  Research Triangle Park, NC  27709
  US

  EMail: [email protected]































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