Skip to main content

DHCP Option to Disable Stateless Auto-Configuration in IPv4 Clients
draft-ietf-dhc-autoconfig-04

The information below is for an old version of the document that is already published as an RFC.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 2563.
Author Ryan Troll
Last updated 2013-03-02 (Latest revision 1999-02-23)
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Intended RFC status Proposed Standard
Formats
Additional resources Mailing list discussion
Stream WG state (None)
Document shepherd (None)
IESG IESG state Became RFC 2563 (Proposed Standard)
Consensus boilerplate Unknown
Telechat date (None)
Responsible AD (None)
Send notices to (None)
draft-ietf-dhc-autoconfig-04
Dynamic Host Configuration WG                                 Ryan Troll
Document: draft-ietf-dhc-autoconfig-04.txt               Carnegie Mellon
Expires August 28, 1999                                February 23, 1999

    DHCP Option to Disable Stateless Auto-Configuration in IPv4 Clients

                     <draft-ietf-dhc-autoconfig-04.txt>

Status of this Memo

    This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
    all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.  Internet-Drafts are
    working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its
    areas, and its working groups.  Note that other groups may also
    distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts.

    Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six
    months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents
    at any time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet- Drafts as
    reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

    To view the list Internet-Draft Shadow Directories, see
    http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.

    Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

    Operating Systems are now attempting to support ad-hoc networks of
    two or more systems, while keeping user configuration at a minimum.
    To accommodate this, in the absence of a central configuration
    mechanism (DHCP), some OS's are automatically choosing a link-local
    IP address which will allow them to communicate only with other
    hosts on the same link.  This address will not allow the OS to
    communicate with anything beyond a router.  However, some sites
    depend on the fact that a host with no DHCP response will have no IP
    address.  This document describes a mechanism by which DHCP servers
    are able to tell clients that they do not have an IP address to
    offer, and that the client should not generate an IP address it's
    own.

1.  Introduction

    With computers becoming a larger part of everyday life, operating
    systems must be able to support a larger range of operating
    environments.  One aspect of this support is the selection of an IP
    address.  The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol [DHCP] provides a

Expires August 28, 1999          Troll                          [Page 1]
Internet Draft       DHCP Auto-Configuration Option    February 23, 1999

    superb method by which site administrators may supply IP addresses
    (and other network parameters) to network devices.  However, some
    operating environments are not centrally maintained, and operating
    systems must now be able to handle this quickly and easily.

    IPv6 accounts for this, and allows an IPv6 stack to assign itself a
    global address in the absence of any other mechanism for
    configuration [IPv6SAC].  However, Operating System designers can't
    wait for IPv6 support everywhere.  They need to be able to assume
    they will have IPv4 addresses, so that they may communicate with one
    another even in the smallest networks.

    This document looks at three types of network nodes, and how IPv4
    address auto-configuration may be disabled on a per-subnet (or even
    per-node) basis.  The three types of network nodes are:

    * A node for which the site administrator will hand out
    configuration information,

    * A node on a network segment for which there is no site
    administrator, and

    * A node on a network segment that has a central site administrator,
    and that administrator chooses not to hand out any configuration
    information to the node.

    The difference between the second and third cases is the clients
    behavior.

    In one case, the node may assign itself an IP address, and have full
    connectivity with other nodes on the local wire.  In the last case,
    the node is not told what to do, and while it may assign itself a
    network address in the same way as case #2, this may not be what the
    central administrator wants.

    The first scenario is handled by the current DHCP standard.
    However, the current DHCP specification [DHCP] says servers must
    silently ignore requests from hosts they do not know.  Because of
    this, DHCP clients are unable to determine whether they are on a
    subnet with no administration, or with administration that is
    choosing not to hand out addresses.

    This document describes a method by which DHCP clients will be able
    to determine whether or not the network is being centrally
    administrated, allowing it to intelligently determine whether or not
    it should assign itself a "link-local" address.

Expires August 28, 1999          Troll                          [Page 2]
Internet Draft       DHCP Auto-Configuration Option    February 23, 1999

1.1.  Conventions Used in the Document

    The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
    "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
    document are to be interpreted as described in [KEYWORDS].

1.2.  Terminology

    DHCP client    A DHCP client is an Internet host using DHCP to
                   obtain configuration parameters such as a network
                   address.

    DHCP server    A DHCP server is an Internet host that returns
                   configuration parameters to DHCP clients.

2.  The Auto-Configure Option

    This option code is used to ask whether, and be notified if, auto-
    configuration should be disabled on the local subnet.  The auto-
    configure option is an 8-bit number.

         Code   Len   Value
        +-----+-----+-----+
        | TBD |  1  |  a  |
        +-----+-----+-----+

    The code for this option is TBD (To Be Determined), and its length
    is 1.

    This code, along with the IP address assignment, will allow a DHCP
    client to determine whether or not it should generate a link-local
    IP address.

2.1.  Auto-Configure Values

    The auto-configure option uses the following values:

             DoNotAutoConfigure     0
             AutoConfigure          1

    When a server responds with the value "AutoConfigure", the client
    MAY generate a link-local IP address if appropriate.  However, if
    the server responds with "DoNotAutoConfigure", the client MUST NOT
    generate a link-local IP address, possibly leaving it with no IP
    address.

Expires August 28, 1999          Troll                          [Page 3]
Internet Draft       DHCP Auto-Configuration Option    February 23, 1999

2.2.  DHCP Client Behavior

    Clients that have auto-configuration capabilities MUST add the
    Auto-Configure option to the list of options included in its initial
    DHCPDISCOVER message.  ([DHCP] Section 4.4.1)  At this time, the
    option's value should be set to "AutoConfigure".

    When a DHCPOFFER is received, it is handled as described in [DHCP],
    section 4.4.1, with one exception.  If the 'yiaddr' field is
    0x00000000, the Auto-Configure option must be consulted.  If this
    option is set to "AutoConfigure", then the DHCPOFFER MUST be
    ignored, and the DHCP client MAY generate a link-local IP address.
    However, if this option is set to "DoNotAutoConfigure", then the
    DHCPOFFER MUST be ignored, and the client MUST NOT generate a link-
    local IP address.

    If a DHCP client receives any DHCPOFFER which contains a 'yiaddr' of
    0x00000000, and the Auto-Configure flag says "DoNotAutoConfigure",
    in the absence of a DHCPOFFER with a valid 'yiaddr', the DHCP client
    MUST NOT generate a link-local IP address.  The amount of time a
    DHCP client waits to collect any other DHCPOFFERs is implementation
    dependant.

    DHCPOFFERs with a 'yiaddr' of 0x00000000 will only be sent by DHCP
    servers supporting the Auto-Configure option when the DHCPDISCOVER
    contained the Auto-Configure option.  Since the DHCPDISCOVER will
    only contain the Auto-Configure option when a DHCP client knows how
    to handle it, there will be no inter-operability problems.

    If the DHCP server does have an address to offer, the message states
    are the same as those described in [DHCP], section 3.

    The following depicts the difference in responses for non-registered
    DHCP clients that support the "Auto-Configure" option on networks
    that have DHCP servers that support auto-configuration and networks
    with DHCP servers that do not.

Expires August 28, 1999          Troll                          [Page 4]
Internet Draft       DHCP Auto-Configuration Option    February 23, 1999

                        Network         Client          Network
                  (no auto-configure)               (auto-configure)

                          v               v               v
                          |               |               |
                          |     Begins initialization     |
                          |               |               |
                          | _____________/|\____________  |
                          |/DHCPDISCOVER  | DHCPDISCOVER \|
                          |               |               |
                      Determines          |          Determines
                     configuration        |         configuration
                          |               |               |
                          |               |  ____________/|
                          |               | /DHCPOFFER    |
                          |               |/              |
                          |               |               |
                          |       Collects replies        |
                          |               |               |
                          |     Selects configuration     |
                          |               |               |
                          |--AutoConfigs--|- NO IP ADDR --|
                          .               .               .
                          .               .               .
                          |               |               |
                          |      Graceful shutdown        |
                          |               |               |
                          |               |               |
                          v               v               v

2.3.  DHCP Server Behavior

    When a DHCP server receives a DHCPDISCOVER, it MUST be processed as
    described in [DHCP], section 4.3.1.  However, if no address is
    chosen for the host, a few additional steps MUST be taken.

    If the DHCPDISCOVER does not contain the Auto-Configure option, it
    is not answered.

    If the DHCPDISCOVER contains the Auto-Configure option, and the site
    administrator has specified that Auto-Configuration should be
    disabled on the subnet the DHCPDISCOVER is originating from, or for
    the client originating the request, then a DHCPOFFER MUST be sent to
    the DHCP client.  This offer MUST be for the address 0x00000000, and
    the Auto-Configure option MUST be set to "DoNotAutoConfigure".

Expires August 28, 1999          Troll                          [Page 5]
Internet Draft       DHCP Auto-Configuration Option    February 23, 1999

    If the site administrator allows auto-configuration on the
    originating subnet, the DHCPDISCOVER is not answered as before.

2.4.  Mixed Environments

    Environments containing a mixture of clients and servers that do and
    do not support the Auto-Configure option will not be a problem.
    Every DHCP transaction is between a Server and a Client, and the
    possible mixed scenarios between these two are listed below.

2.4.1.  Client Supports, Server Does Not

    If a DHCP client sends a request that contains the Auto-Configure
    tag, a DHCP server that does not know what this tag is will respond
    normally.  According to [DHCP] Section 4.3.1, the server MUST NOT
    return a value for that parameter.

    In this case, the server will either respond with a valid DHCPOFFER,
    or it will not respond at all.  In both cases, a DHCP client that
    supports this option will never care what the state of the option
    is, and may auto-configure.

2.4.2.  Servers Supports, Client Does Not

    If the Auto-Configure option is not present in the DHCPDISCOVER, the
    server will do nothing about it.  The client will auto-configure if
    it doesn't receive a response and believes that's what it should do.

    This scenario SHOULD not occur, as any stacks that implement an
    auto-configuration mechanism MUST implement this option as well.

2.5.  Interaction With Other DHCP Messages

    As this option only affects the initial IP address selection, it
    does not apply to subsequent DHCP messages.  If the DHCP client
    received a lease from a DHCP server, future DHCP messages (RENEW,
    INFORM, ACK, etc.) have no need to fall over into an auto-
    configuration state.

    If the DHCP client's lease expires, the client falls back into the
    INIT state, and the initial DHCPDISCOVER is sent as before.

2.5.1.  DHCPRELEASE Messages

    DHCPRELEASEs occur exactly as described in [DHCP], section 4.4.6.
    When a DHCP client is done with a lease, it MAY notify the server
    that it is finished.  For this to occur, the DHCP client already
    received a DHCP lease, and the state of Auto-Configuration on the

Expires August 28, 1999          Troll                          [Page 6]
Internet Draft       DHCP Auto-Configuration Option    February 23, 1999

    local wire does not matter.

2.5.2.  DHCPDECLINE Messages

    A DHCPDECLINE is sent by the DHCP client when it determines the
    network address it is attempting to use is already in use.  As a
    network address has been tested, it must have been offered by the
    DHCP Server, and the state of Auto-Configuration on the local wire
    does not matter.

2.5.3.  DHCPINFORM Messages

    DHCPINFORMs should be handled as described in [DHCP], section 4.4.3.
    No changes are necessary.

2.6.  Message Option

    If the DHCP server would like to tell a client why it is not allowed
    to auto-configure, it MAY add the Message option to the response.
    This option is defined in [DHCPOPT], Section 9.9.

    If the DHCP client receives a response with the Message option set,
    it MUST provide this information to the administrator of the DHCP
    client.  How this information is provided is implementation
    dependant.

3.  Security Considerations

    DHCP per se currently provides no authentication or security
    mechanisms.  Potential exposures to attack are discussed in section
    7 of the DHCP protocol specification [DHCP].

    This mechanism does add one other potential attack.  Malicious users
    on a subnet may respond to all DHCP requests with responses telling
    DHCP clients that they should NOT auto-configure on the local wire.
    On a network where Auto-Configuration is required, this will cause
    all DHCP clients to not choose an address.

4.  Acknowledgments

    This idea started at a joint Common Solutions Group / Microsoft
    meeting at Microsoft in May, 1998.  The IP stacks in Win98 and NT5
    assign themselves an IP address (in a specific subnet) in the
    absence of a responding DHCP server, and this is causing headaches
    for many sites that actually rely on machines not getting IP
    addresses when the DHCP servers do not know them.

    Walter Wong proposed a solution that would allow the DHCP servers to

Expires August 28, 1999          Troll                          [Page 7]
Internet Draft       DHCP Auto-Configuration Option    February 23, 1999

    tell clients not to do this.  His initial solution would not work
    without slight modifications to DHCP itself.  This document
    describes those modifications.

5.  IANA Considerations

    The IANA has assigned option number TBD for this option.

6.  Copyright

    Copyright (C) The Internet Society 1999. All Rights Reserved.

    This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
    others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
    or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
    and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
    kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph
    are included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
    document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
    the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
    Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
    developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
    copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
    followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
    English.

    The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
    revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

    This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
    "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
    TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
    BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
    HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
    MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

7.  References

    [DHCP] Droms, R., "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol",  RFC  2131,
        March 1997

        <ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc2131.txt>

Expires August 28, 1999          Troll                          [Page 8]
Internet Draft       DHCP Auto-Configuration Option    February 23, 1999

    [DHCPOPT] Alexander, S. and  Droms,  R.,  "DHCP  Options  and  BOOTP
        Vendor Extension", RFC 2132, March 1997

        <ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc2132.txt>

    [IPv6SAC] Thomson,  S.  and  Narten,  T.,  "IPv6  Stateless  Address
        Autoconfiguration", RFC 2462, December 1998

        <ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc2462.txt>

    [KEYWORDS] S. Bradner, "Key  words  for  use  in  RFCs  to  Indicate
        Requirement Levels", RFC 2119, March 1997

        <ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc2119.txt>

8.  Author's Address

    Ryan Troll
    Network Development
    Carnegie Mellon
    5000 Forbes Avenue
    Pittsburgh, PA 15213

    Phone: (412) 268-8691
    EMail: ryan@andrew.cmu.edu

Expires August 28, 1999          Troll                          [Page 9]