RE: Issue 226: RFC 3576bis and Renumbering

[Bernard Aboba <bernard_aboba@hotmail.com>]

> What I'm saying is that the NAS knows what a session is: the user is
> connected to it. The NAS has the information that ties authentication
> packets to accounting packets: the Acct-Session-Id. The NAS does not
> currently share this information with the authentication server. It
> SHOULD make this information available to the authentication server.
> 
> Once the Acct-Session-Id is available to the authentication server, it
> can be used to tie authentication sessions to accounting sessions in a
> better way than what is done right now. It can also be used as a key to
> control parameters related to the session... like CoA.

RFC 2866 Section 5.5 already enables Acct-Session-Id to be put in an Access-Request:

      An Access-Request packet MAY have an Acct-Session-Id; if it does,
      then the NAS MUST use the same Acct-Session-Id in the Accounting-
      Request packets for that session.
 
If a NAS supports RFC 3576, it would probably be a good idea for it to include the Acct-Session-Id in Access-Requests, since that would make it easier for the Dynamic Authorization Client to obtain the Acct-Session-Id in a variety of situations.  As Glen mentioned, Accounting-Server log files may not necessarily be available. 
 
However, even if we add text to make this a SHOULD we can't guarantee that it will always be available to the Dynamic Authorization Client.