A Larger Loopback Prefix for IPv6
draft-smith-v6ops-larger-ipv6-loopback-prefix-01
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| Author | Mark Smith | ||
| Last updated | 2012-08-17 | ||
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draft-smith-v6ops-larger-ipv6-loopback-prefix-01
Internet Engineering Task Force M. Smith
Internet-Draft IMOT
Updates: 4291,5156 (if approved) August 17, 2012
Intended status: Standards Track
Expires: February 18, 2013
A Larger Loopback Prefix for IPv6
draft-smith-v6ops-larger-ipv6-loopback-prefix-01
Abstract
During the development of a network application, it can be useful to
run multiple instances of the application using the same transport
layer protocol port on the same development host, while also having
network access to the application instances limited to the local
host. Under IPv4, this has been possible by using different loopback
addresses within 127/8. It is not possible under IPv6, as the
loopback prefix of ::1/128 only provides a single loopback address.
This memo proposes a new larger loopback prefix that will provide
many loopback IPv6 addresses.
Status of this Memo
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
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."
This Internet-Draft will expire on February 18, 2013.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2012 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
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carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1. Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2. Larger Loopback Prefix Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Proposed Larger Loopback Prefix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4. Larger Loopback Prefix Processing Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.1. Host Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.1.1. Packets Sent with Larger Loopback Source and/or
Destination Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.1.2. Packets Received Externally With Larger Loopback
Source and/or Destination Addresses . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.2. Router Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4.2.1. Packets Sent with Larger Loopback Source and/or
Destination Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
4.2.2. Packets Received Externally With Larger Loopback
Source and/or Destination Addresses . . . . . . . . . . 6
5. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
8. Change Log [RFC Editor please remove] . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
9.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
9.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
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1. Introduction
During the development of a network application, it can be useful to
run multiple instances of the application on the same development
host. It may also be useful or important for network access to these
application instances to be limited to the development host itself.
Networked applications that use fixed transport layer protocol ports
will typically accept incoming traffic on that port for any address
assigned to the host. This will prevent multiple instances of the
application running on the same port. This port reuse limitation can
be overcome by having each application instance bind to different
individual addresses available on the host.
Under IPv4, the 127/8 loopback prefix [RFC1122] provides many
addresses that can be used to run multiple instances of an
application on the same port, while also limiting access to the local
host.
Under IPv6, the ::1/128 loopback prefix [RFC4291] only provides a
single address. Multiple application instances using the the same
port, bound to different loopback addresses, is not possible.
The IPv4-Mapped IPv6 Address form of 127/8, ::ffff:127.0.0.0/104
[RFC4291], could be used to provide more host local loopback
addresses. However these addresses do not have native IPv6 address
properties. For example, they cannot accomodate 64 bit Interface
Identifiers.
A Unique Local IPv6 Unicast Address (ULA) prefix [RFC4193] could be
used to increase the number of addresses available on the local host.
However this prefix would need to be manually generated and
configured at least once by a system administrator. Without
additonal configuration, traffic towards most addresses within the
prefix would not be prevented from leaving the local host, and access
may not be limited to the local host. A ULA prefix would not be well
known, and would not be convenient to remember and type without
violating the randomness requirements of the Global ID component of a
ULA prefix.
This memo proposes a new larger IPv6 loopback prefix that provides
more loopback addresses and has properties of native IPv6 addresses.
This prefix will also suit other uses of multiple loopback addresses
that may emerge.
This memo, if published, updates [RFC4291] and [RFC5156].
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1.1. Requirements Language
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 RFC 2119 [RFC2119].
2. Larger Loopback Prefix Requirements
A new larger loopback prefix should attempt to satisfy all of the
following requirements:
o be a well known prefix,
o be within an existing special purpose prefix,
o be easy for a human to remember,
o be easy for a human to type,
o covers the existing loopback prefix,
o supports 64 bit Interface Identifiers,
o provides a large number of /64 subnets.
3. Proposed Larger Loopback Prefix
The proposed larger loopback prefix is:
0001:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000/48
or concisely,
1::/48
This prefix meets all but one of the requirements, as it does not
cover the existing ::1/128 loopback prefix. It is not possible for a
larger loopback prefix with a length of /64 or shorter to cover
::1/128, as this would also cover both the IPv4 Mapped IPv6 Address
prefix, ::ffff:0.0.0.0/96, and the deprecated IPv4-Compatible IPv6
Address prefix, ::0.0.0.0/96 [RFC4291].
Some IP implementations represent or perform the loopback function
using a "loopback" virtual link layer interface. 127.0.0.1/8 is
usually configured on this interface at system initialisation, even
though all addresses within 127/8 are valid loopback addresses.
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Similarly, ::1/128 is also usually configured on the loopback
interface at system initialisation.
For the new larger loopback prefix, the address automatically
configured on a loopback interface should be:
1::1/64
4. Larger Loopback Prefix Processing Rules
4.1. Host Rules
4.1.1. Packets Sent with Larger Loopback Source and/or Destination
Addresses
Packets with larger loopback source and/or destination addresses MUST
be returned to the originating host for standard processing by the
local IPv6 protocol implementation. They MUST NOT be sent over any
external links attached to the host.
All destinations within the larger loopback prefix MUST be considered
assigned to the local host.
4.1.2. Packets Received Externally With Larger Loopback Source and/or
Destination Addresses
Packets with larger loopback source and/or destination addresses
received over any of the external links attached to the host MUST be
dropped. ICMPv6 error messages, such as Destination Unreachable
messages, MUST NOT be generated for these dropped packets.
For these dropped packets, it may be useful to generate an
appropriate system log message, indicating a packet with an invalid
source or destination address (a "martian") was received over an
external interface. By default, these messages should be suppressed.
If they are enabled, they should be appropriately rate limited to
prevent a system log denial-of-service attack.
4.2. Router Rules
IPv4 loopback packet processing rules for routers, specified in
[RFC1812], by default prohibited forwarding of packets with 127/8
destinations, other than those originated locally and returned back
to the router itself. A software switch could be provided to disable
this prohibition. This special case of allowing forwarding of
packets towards 127/8 destinations has been taken advantage of by
[RFC4379]. An equivalent function for IPv6 is provided by using the
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IPv4-Mapped IPv6 prefix of ::ffff:127.0.0.0/104.
The existing ::1/128 packet processing rules for routers is the same
as for IPv6 hosts [RFC4291].
For the new larger loopback prefix, the IPv6 router processing rules
are modified to match those of IPv4.
4.2.1. Packets Sent with Larger Loopback Source and/or Destination
Addresses
By default, a router MUST follow the host processing rules, described
previously, for packets sent with larger loopback source and/or
destination addresses.
A software switch may be provided to permit packets with larger
loopback source and/or destination addresses to be sent via an
external interface. If provided, this software switch MUST default
to off.
4.2.2. Packets Received Externally With Larger Loopback Source and/or
Destination Addresses
By default, a router MUST follow the host processing rules, described
previously, for packets received externally with larger loopback
source and/or destination addresses.
A software switch may be provided to permit received packets with
larger loopback source and/or destination addresses to be forwarded
via an external interface. This software switch MUST default to off.
5. Acknowledgements
Nick Hilliard provided valuable review and comments on this memo.
6. IANA Considerations
IANA is requested to allocate 1::/48 from within 0::/8 of the
Internet Protocol Version 6 Address Space, for use as a larger
loopback prefix for IPv6, as described in this memo.
7. Security Considerations
During deployment of a new larger loopback prefix, there will be a
transition period where some hosts and routers have implemented the
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larger loopback processing rules defined in this memo while others
haven't. These legacy hosts and routers will forward larger loopback
traffic using conventional unicast processing. For traffic towards
non-local larger loopback addresses, traffic will most likely leave
the legacy originating host via it's default route, and may be
forwarded by legacy routers using their default route. This may
disclose sensitive information, violating security policy.
Packet filters, matching traffic with larger loopback source and/or
destination addresses, should be used to prevent unintended
forwarding of loopback traffic. They should be deployed at the
following locations:
o on the legacy hosts themselves,
o on legacy routers interconnecting two different networks,
o on appropriate security domain boundary legacy routers within the
local network, if not all legacy routers within the local network.
Routes for the new larger loopback prefix should not be announced or
accepted if received under any circumstances.
8. Change Log [RFC Editor please remove]
draft-smith-larger-ipv6-loopback-prefix-00, initial version,
2012-07-24
draft-smith-larger-ipv6-loopback-prefix-01, much less verbose
version, 2012-08-17
9. References
9.1. Normative References
[RFC1122] Braden, R., "Requirements for Internet Hosts -
Communication Layers", STD 3, RFC 1122, October 1989.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
9.2. Informative References
[RFC1812] Baker, F., "Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers",
RFC 1812, June 1995.
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[RFC4193] Hinden, R. and B. Haberman, "Unique Local IPv6 Unicast
Addresses", RFC 4193, October 2005.
[RFC4291] Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "IP Version 6 Addressing
Architecture", RFC 4291, February 2006.
[RFC4379] Kompella, K. and G. Swallow, "Detecting Multi-Protocol
Label Switched (MPLS) Data Plane Failures", RFC 4379,
February 2006.
[RFC5156] Blanchet, M., "Special-Use IPv6 Addresses", RFC 5156,
April 2008.
Author's Address
Mark Smith
In My Own Time
PO BOX 521
HEIDELBERG, VIC 3084
AU
Email: markzzzsmith@yahoo.com.au
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