Re: [dhcwg] Re: Last Call: 'A Guide to Implementing Stateless DHCPv6 Service' to Proposed Standard

[Pekka Savola <pekkas@netcore.fi>]

On Thu, 13 Nov 2003, Ralph Droms wrote:
> Pekka - thanks for your review.  My responses to your comments are inline.

Thanks.. just a few responses inline.

(Btw -- does the case I mentioned off-line about first-hop router being a 
stateless DHCP server, but acting as DHCP relay for stateful DHCP need to 
be explicitly mentioned -- I guess so?)

> At 02:27 PM 11/3/2003 +0200, Pekka Savola wrote:
> >On Thu, 30 Oct 2003, The IESG wrote:
> >1) the spec is not sufficiently clear how the relays behave in a mixed world
> >of stateless/stateful DHCP service.  That is, would deploying a
> >stateless-only relay (if such a thing is possible?) harm the stateful DHCP
> >clients?  Is the implementation of a relay any different for full/stateless
> >DHCP service, etc. ?:
> >
> >    The operation of relay agents is the same for stateless and stateful
> >    DHCPv6 service.  The operation of relay agents is described in the
> >    DHCPv6 specification.
> 
> The functions referenced in draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-stateless-01.txt are
> all completely defined in RFC 3315.  From the point of view of the
> DHCPv6 relay agent, there is no difference between the subset of
> RFC 3315 referred to as "stateless DHCPv6" and the full set of
> functions in  RFC 3315.
> 
> More concisely, there are just "DHCPv6 relay agents" that work with both
> full RFC 3315 clients and stateless-only clients...

Right.  I think this should be spelled out in the stateless document a bit 
better, that the stateless DHCP has to implement "full" relay service, 
which is of course rather lightweight in itself (it has no state, I 
believe).

> >==> that is, do relays really *flood* these messages to all the DHCPv6
> >servers they know, so that if one doesn't process the request but silently
> >ignores it, the others can step up and handle the job?  See also the point
> >1) above.
> 
> Yes, a relay agent forwards a copy of each message it receives from a client
> to each of the servers in its configured list of servers.

Are all the responses equally flooded back to the relay as well?  Does the 
relay pick and respond to the hosts with first or all the information?

(Just trying to clarify, this probably doesn't need changes in the spec.)

> >    1-4:   give an introduction to DHCPv6 and an overview of DHCP message
> >       flows
> >
> >==> some of those flows are redundant to Stateless DHCPv6 operation,
> >though.. :-)
> 
> OK, would a more precise list (e.g., individual subsections rather than
> simply "1-4") be helpful?

That might not hurt.  However, what I was referring to was that e.g. 
"message flows" or sections like do not really reflect the stateless DHCP 
operation...

-- 
Pekka Savola                 "You each name yourselves king, yet the
Netcore Oy                    kingdom bleeds."
Systems. Networks. Security. -- George R.R. Martin: A Clash of Kings