IPv6 CE Routers LAN Prefix Delegation

This document defines DHCPv6 Prefix Delegation in IPv6 CE Routers () in order to properly utilize the IPv6 prefixes assigned by service providers. Many ISP will assign a prefix larger then /64 to the CE Router, as recommended in . If an IPv6 CE Router doesn't support IA_PD on the LAN it will not be able to assign any prefixes beyond itself, limiting the usefulness of assigning prefixes larger than /64. Supporting IA_PD on the LAN interfaces will allow for those unused prefixes to be distributed into a network. Two models, hierachical prefix and flat, have been proposed in the past for prefix sub-delegation. Hierachical prefix delegation requires a IPv6 CE Router to sub delegate IPv6 prefixes based on set of rules. If more then one router uses hierachical prefix delegation, a IPv6 prefix tree is created. When no routing protocol is present to discover the network topology it's possible to have unbalanced prefix delegation tree which leads to running out of prefixes. For more information on heirachical prefix delegation is contained in Section 8.5 of CableLabs IPv6 eRouter Specifiction. A flat prefix delegation requires the router provisioned with a the initial prefix then assign /64 prefixes to all other prefix request from routers downstream. This document does not cover dealing with multi-provisioned networks with more than one provider. Due to complexity of a solution that will requires routing, provisioning, and policy this is out of scope of this document.

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here. This document also makes use of internal conceptual variables to describe protocol behavior and external variables that an implementation must allow system administrators to change. The specific variable names, how their values change, and how their settings influence protocol behavior are provided to demonstrate protocol behavior. An implementation is not required to have them in the exact form described here, as long as its external behavior is consistent with that described in this document.

The following terminology is defined for this document. IPv6 CE Router: A router intended for home or small-office use that forwards packets not explicitly addressed to itself as defined in . Internet Service Provider (ISP): An entity that provides access to the Internet. In this document, a service provider specifically offers Internet access using IPv6, and may also offer IPv4 Internet access. The service provider can provide such access over a variety of different transport methods such as DSL, cable, wireless, and others.

+-----------+ | Service | | Provider | | Router | +-----+-----+ | | | Customer | Internet Connection | +-----v-----+ | IPv6 | | CE | | Router | +-----+-----+ | +----+-+-------+ | | | | +---+----+ +-----+------+ | IPv6 | | | | Host | | Router | | | | | +--------+ +------------+

The IPv6 CE Router distributes configuration information obtained during WAN interface provisioning to IPv6 hosts and routers. Previously, a router based on would only provide IPv6 hosts with individual addresses; this update allows for addressing and routing of IPv6 prefixes to both hosts and routers. LAN Prefix Delegation (LPD) Requirements LPD-1: The IPv6 CE Router MUST support a DHCPv6 server capable of IPv6 prefix assignment according to (Identity Association for Prefix Delegation (IA_PD) option). LPD-2: The IPv6 CE Router MUST assign a prefix from the delegated prefix to each of its LAN links. If not enough addresses are available the IPv6 CE Router SHOULD log a system management error. LPD-3: The prefix assigned to a link MUST NOT change in the absence of topology or configuration changes. LPD-4: After LAN link prefix assignment the IPv6 CE Router MUST make the remaining IPv6 prefixes available to other routers via Prefix Delegation. LPD-5: The IPv6 CE Router MUST support either heirachical prefix delegation or flat prefix delegation. LAN Hierachical Prefix Deletation (HPD) Requirements HPD-1: If the provisioned IA_PD is smaller than a /56 (e.g., a /60) the IPv6 CE Router MUST divide the delegated prefix on three 3-bit boundaries into eight sub-prefixes by default. HPD-2: If the provisioned IA_PD is a /56 or larger the IPv6 CE Router MUST divide the delegated prefix on four (4)-bit boundaries into 16 sub-prefixes by default. HPD-3: If the provisioned IA_PD is too small to divide in the manner described, the IPv6 CE Router MUST divide the delegated prefix into as many /64 sub-prefixes as possible and log an error message indicating the fault. LAN Flat Prefix Delegation (FPD) Requirements FPD-2: Available prefixes MUST be provisioned as IA_PD IA prefixes MUST with a prefix-length of 64. FPD-3: The IPv6 CE Router MUST install a route to the assigned IA_PD with a next-hop of the IPv6 node that was assigned the prefix. The IPv6 CE Router MUST remove the route when IA_PD lease expires. FPD-4: By default, the IPv6 CE Router firewall MUST allow forwarding of packets with an outer IPv6 header containing a source address belonging to Delegated Prefixes, along with reciprocal packets from the same flow, following the recommendations of FPD-5: If an IPv6 CE Router receives a single IA_PD IA Prefix with a prefix-length of 64, it MUST act as delegating relay according to , specifically requirements G-2 to G-7, G-9, and S-2. DHCPv6 messages without IA-PD option MUST NOT be relayed. FPD-6: A CE Router MUST only be a delegating relay with DHCPv6 messages with IA_PD options present. FPD-7: A CE Router assigning prefixes MUST NOT assign IA_NA in the same DHCPv6 exchange.

This document does not add any new security considerations beyond those mentioned in Section 4 of and Section 22 of .

This document makes no request of IANA.

Thanks to the following people for their guidance and feedback: Marion Dillon, Erik Auerswald, Esko Dijk, Tim Carlin, Richard Patterson, Ted Lemon, Michael Richardson, Martin Hunek.