[RRG] IEEE EUI-64 as an Identifier format

[RJ Atkinson <rja@extremenetworks.com>]

Since the IPv6 specs are already using a modified EUI-64
to generate the low-order 64-bits of the IPv6 address,
it might be worth noting some properties of the EUI-64 here:

1) There is a specific unicast/multicast bit.
2) There is a scope bit, with possible values
   of "local" and "global".
3) 62 bits remain to distinguish one EUI-64 from another.

If one said that an EUI-64 that is not generated
directly from an IEEE MAC address MUST have the scope
set to "local", then those values that have global
scope would be isolated from those with local scope.

If one thought that the IPv6 Privacy extensions (RFC-3041)
provided good protection, then those could be re-used
in an EUI-64 used as an Identifier.

If one thought that deriving the Identifier from a public-key
were a good approach, then that could also be done when
using an EUI-64 as an Identifier (just make the derivation
function produce 62 bits).

If one wanted to have a group Identifier, then the "multicast"
bit of the EUI-64 could be chosen accordingly.  Otherwise,
for individual nodes the "unicast" value could be chosen.

So the EUI-64 format seems like a pretty practical one to use
for an IPv6 or IPv6-like environment.

Cheers,

Ran

IEEE Standards Association:
  <http://standards.ieee.org/regauth/oui/tutorials/EUI64.html>

Wikipedia:
  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EUI-64>

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