RE: Question on extended RADIUS attribute format in draft-congdon-radext-ieee802-02.txt

[Bernard Aboba <aboba@internaut.com>]

It would be nice to allow larger attributes if there was some way to
accomplish this while maintaining backward compatibility.  Do we have a
proposal for how to do this?

For example, if an attribute is defined with a length > 253, won't
existing proxies have trouble figuring this out?  Or is the idea to have
the *inner* length different from the *outer* length?  That way the
outer length <= 253, but the inner length can be larger?

Inquiring minds want to know :)

On Thu, 10 Feb 2005, Glen Zorn (gwz) wrote:

> Glen Zorn (gwz) <mailto:gwz@cisco.com> supposedly scribbled:
>
> > It seems as if one of the purposes of defining the extended format
> > might be to allow larger attribute (i.e., > 253 bytes of data).
> > However, the Length field of the extended format is defined to
> > include the length of Type, Length, S, Code, Length2, Flags,
> > Vendor-Id and Data fields.  If it includes the length of the Data
> > field then that would seem to limit the total length of the
> attribute
> > to 253 octets anyway.  Am I just missing something, or should it
> say
> >
> > 	Length
> >
> >       The length of the extended attribute header in octets,
> >       including the Type, Length, S, Code, and Length2 fields.
> >
> > With the definition of Length2 changed to
> >
> >    Length2
> >
> >       The length of the sub-attribute in octets, including the
> > 	Length2, Flags, Vendor-Id and Data fields.
> >
> > Or something similar?
>
> BTW, if you do this, I believe that you can get rid of the 'S' bit
> (which seems a little weird to me) and keep the Flags field in the
> "Short form" at the cost of 6 bits.  The short and long forms could
> be distinguished by inspection of the Length field: 6 for short
> form, 8 for long form.  In addition, you could carry 16 and 32 bits
> of the Diameter type code in the short & long forms, respectively.
>
> >
> > ~gwz
> >
> > Treat the Earth well.
> > It was not given to you by your parents.
> > It was loaned to you by your children.
> >   -- Kenyan Proverb
> >
> > Humankind has not woven the web of life.
> > We are but one thread within it.
> > Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
> > All things are bound together.
> > All things connect.
> >   -- Chief Seattle
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> ~gwz
>
> Why is it that most of the world's problems can't be solved by
> simply
>   listening to John Coltrane? -- Henry Gabriel
>

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