RE: Meaning of "backward compatible" WAS RE: Consensus Call on RADEXT WG re-charter

["Glen Zorn" <glenzorn@comcast.net>]

owner-radiusext@ops.ietf.org <> scribbled on Friday, April 18, 2008
10:01 PM:

> Glen Zorn writes...
> 
>>  One example: the maximum length of 4096 octets for a Radius packet
>> was chosen (IIRC) based upon the maximum size of a _UDP_ frame that
>> could be reliably transmitted w/o fragmentation _in the access
>> networks of the day_.
> 
> I've forgotten that discussion.  Isn't 4096 the maximum size
> *any* UDP frame, IP fragmentation and reassembly notwithstanding?

No.  The Length field in the UDP header is 16 bits long; RFC 768 notes
that the minimum length is 8 octets but doesn't mention any maximum.

> 
>> It doesn't seem to be very smart to go to all the trouble of defining
>> RADIUSoTCP while leaving this kind of unnecessary, UDP-specific
>> limitation in place.
> 
> I recall that you have many times advocated the need for
> longer RADIUS packets and/or more/longer RADIUS attributes.

This isn't my personal opinion: I have just been echoing customer
requests.  
> 
> It is true that any RADSEC to RADIUS gateway needs to address
> what is to be done about larger than UDP-size RADSEC messages
> in translating them to RADIUS messages.
> 
> I need to see if that issue is covered in the "AAA Transports" RFC...
> 
> I believe that addressing this issue ought to be another
> element of our definition of backwards compatibility for
> RADIUS over non-UDP transports.

The first thing to be addressed is the (bogus) usage of the term
"backward compatibility" in the proposed charter.  PLEASE replace it
with "interoperable" or a synonym thereof.

> 
> 
> 
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