Dynamic Host Configuration (DHC)                            T. Mrugalski
Internet-Draft                                                       ISC
Intended status: Standards Track                              K. Kinnear
Expires: August 6, 2017                                            Cisco
                                                        February 2, 2017


                        DHCPv6 Failover Protocol
               draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-failover-protocol-05

Abstract

   DHCPv6 as defined in "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6
   (DHCPv6)" (RFC3315) does not offer server redundancy.  This document
   defines a protocol implementation to provide DHCPv6 failover, a
   mechanism for running two servers with the capability for either
   server to take over clients' leases in case of server failure or
   network partition.  It meets the requirements for DHCPv6 failover
   detailed in "DHCPv6 Failover Requirements" (RFC7031).

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 August 6, 2017.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2017 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
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must



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   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  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   2.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   3.  Glossary  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   4.  Failover Concepts and Mechanisms  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     4.1.  Required Server Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     4.2.  IPv6 Address and Delegable Prefix Allocation  . . . . . .   9
       4.2.1.  Independent Allocation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
       4.2.2.  Proportional Allocation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     4.3.  Lazy Updates  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
     4.4.  Maximum Client Lead Time (MCLT) . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
       4.4.1.  MCLT example  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  15
   5.  Message and Option Definitions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
     5.1.  Message Framing for TCP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
     5.2.  Failover Message Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18
     5.3.  Messages  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
       5.3.1.  BNDUPD  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  19
       5.3.2.  BNDREPLY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
       5.3.3.  POOLREQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
       5.3.4.  POOLRESP  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
       5.3.5.  UPDREQ  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
       5.3.6.  UPDREQALL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  20
       5.3.7.  UPDDONE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
       5.3.8.  CONNECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
       5.3.9.  CONNECTREPLY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
       5.3.10. DISCONNECT  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
       5.3.11. STATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
       5.3.12. CONTACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  21
     5.4.  Transaction Id  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
     5.5.  Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
       5.5.1.  OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  22
       5.5.2.  OPTION_F_CONNECT_FLAGS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23
       5.5.3.  OPTION_F_DNS_REMOVAL_INFO . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  24
       5.5.4.  OPTION_F_DNS_HOST_NAME  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
       5.5.5.  OPTION_F_DNS_ZONE_NAME  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  25
       5.5.6.  OPTION_F_DNS_FLAGS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  26
       5.5.7.  OPTION_F_EXPIRATION_TIME  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  27
       5.5.8.  OPTION_F_MAX_UNACKED_BNDUPD . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
       5.5.9.  OPTION_F_MCLT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  28
       5.5.10. OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  29
       5.5.11. OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME_SENT  . . . . . . . . . . .  29
       5.5.12. OPTION_F_PARTNER_DOWN_TIME  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  30
       5.5.13. OPTION_F_PARTNER_RAW_CLT_TIME . . . . . . . . . . . .  31



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       5.5.14. OPTION_F_PROTOCOL_VERSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  31
       5.5.15. OPTION_F_KEEPALIVE_TIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32
       5.5.16. OPTION_F_RECONFIGURE_DATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  32
       5.5.17. OPTION_F_RELATIONSHIP_NAME  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  33
       5.5.18. OPTION_F_SERVER_FLAGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  34
       5.5.19. OPTION_F_SERVER_STATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  35
       5.5.20. OPTION_F_START_TIME_OF_STATE  . . . . . . . . . . . .  36
       5.5.21. OPTION_F_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME  . . . . . . . . . . .  37
     5.6.  Status Codes  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  38
   6.  Connection Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39
     6.1.  Creating Connections  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  39
       6.1.1.  Sending a CONNECT message . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  40
       6.1.2.  Receiving a CONNECT message . . . . . . . . . . . . .  41
       6.1.3.  Receiving a CONNECTREPLY message  . . . . . . . . . .  42
     6.2.  Endpoint Identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  43
     6.3.  Sending a STATE message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  44
     6.4.  Receiving a STATE message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  44
     6.5.  Connection Maintenance Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . .  45
     6.6.  Unreachability detection  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  45
   7.  Binding Updates and Acks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46
     7.1.  Time Skew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46
     7.2.  Information model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  46
     7.3.  Times Required for Exchanging Binding Updates . . . . . .  50
     7.4.  Sending Binding Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  51
     7.5.  Receiving Binding Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  54
       7.5.1.  Monitoring Time Skew  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  54
       7.5.2.  Acknowledging Reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  55
       7.5.3.  Processing Binding Updates  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  55
       7.5.4.  Accept or Reject? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  55
       7.5.5.  Accepting Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  58
     7.6.  Sending Binding Replies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  59
     7.7.  Receiving Binding Acks  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  61
     7.8.  BNDUPD/BNDREPLY Data Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  62
   8.  Endpoint States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  63
     8.1.  State Machine Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  63
     8.2.  State Machine Initialization  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  67
     8.3.  STARTUP State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  67
       8.3.1.  Operation in STARTUP State  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  68
       8.3.2.  Transition Out of STARTUP State . . . . . . . . . . .  68
     8.4.  PARTNER-DOWN State  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  70
       8.4.1.  Operation in PARTNER-DOWN State . . . . . . . . . . .  70
       8.4.2.  Transition Out of PARTNER-DOWN State  . . . . . . . .  71
     8.5.  RECOVER State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  71
       8.5.1.  Operation in RECOVER State  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  72
       8.5.2.  Transition Out of RECOVER State . . . . . . . . . . .  72
     8.6.  RECOVER-WAIT State  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  73
       8.6.1.  Operation in RECOVER-WAIT State . . . . . . . . . . .  74
       8.6.2.  Transition Out of RECOVER-WAIT State  . . . . . . . .  74



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     8.7.  RECOVER-DONE State  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  74
       8.7.1.  Operation in RECOVER-DONE State . . . . . . . . . . .  74
       8.7.2.  Transition Out of RECOVER-DONE State  . . . . . . . .  75
     8.8.  NORMAL State  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  75
       8.8.1.  Operation in NORMAL State . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  75
       8.8.2.  Transition Out of NORMAL State  . . . . . . . . . . .  76
     8.9.  COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED State  . . . . . . . . . . . .  77
       8.9.1.  Operation in COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED State . . . .  77
       8.9.2.  Transition Out of COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED State  .  78
     8.10. POTENTIAL-CONFLICT State  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  79
       8.10.1.  Operation in POTENTIAL-CONFLICT State  . . . . . . .  80
       8.10.2.  Transition Out of POTENTIAL-CONFLICT State . . . . .  80
     8.11. RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED State  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  81
       8.11.1.  Operation in RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED State  . . . . .  82
       8.11.2.  Transition Out of RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED State . . .  82
     8.12. CONFLICT-DONE State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  82
       8.12.1.  Operation in CONFLICT-DONE State . . . . . . . . . .  83
       8.12.2.  Transition Out of CONFLICT-DONE State  . . . . . . .  83
   9.  DNS Update Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  83
     9.1.  Relationship between failover and DNS update  . . . . . .  84
     9.2.  Exchanging DNS Update Information . . . . . . . . . . . .  85
     9.3.  Adding RRs to the DNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  87
     9.4.  Deleting RRs from the DNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  87
     9.5.  Name Assignment with No Update of DNS . . . . . . . . . .  88
   10. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  88
   11. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  89
   12. Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  91
   13. References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  92
     13.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  92
     13.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  93
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  93

1.  Introduction

   This document defines a DHCPv6 failover protocol, which is a
   mechanism for running two DHCPv6 servers [RFC3315] with the
   capability for either server to take over clients' leases in case of
   server failover or network partition.  For a general overview of
   DHCPv6 failover problems, use cases, benefits, and shortcomings, see
   [RFC7031].

   The failover protocol provides a means for cooperating DHCP servers
   to work together to provide a service to DHCP clients with
   availability that is increased beyond that which could be provided by
   a single DHCP server operating alone.  It is designed to protect DHCP
   clients against server unreachability, including server failure and
   network partition.  It is possible to deploy exactly two servers that
   are able to continue providing a lease for an IPv6 address [RFC3315]



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   or on an IPv6 prefix [RFC3633] without the DHCP client experiencing
   lease expiration or a reassignment of a lease to a different IPv6
   address or prefix in the event of failure by one or the other of the
   two servers.

   The failover protocol defines an active-passive mode, sometimes also
   called a hot standby model.  This means that during normal operation
   one server is active (i.e. actively responds to clients' requests)
   while the second is passive (i.e. it receives clients' requests, but
   responds only to those specifically directed to it).  The secondary
   maintains a copy of the binding database and is ready to take over
   all incoming queries in case of primary server failure.

   The failover protocol is designed to provide lease stability for
   leases with valid lifetimes beyond a short period.  The DHCPv6
   Failover protocol MUST NOT be used for new leases shorter than 30
   seconds.  Leases reaching the end of their liftetime are not affected
   by this restriction.

   The failover protocol fulfills all DHCPv6 failover requirements
   defined in [RFC7031].

2.  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].

3.  Glossary

   This is a supplemental glossary that should be combined with
   definitions in Section 3 of RFC 7031 [RFC7031].

   o  Absolute Time

      The time in seconds since midnight January 1, 2000 UTC, modulo
      2^32).

   o  Address Lease

      A lease involving an IPv6 address.  Typically used when it is
      necessary to distinguish the lease for an IPv6 address from a
      lease for a DHCP prefix.  See "delegated prefix" and "prefix
      lease".

   o  auto-partner-down





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      A capability where a failover server will move from
      COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state to PARTNER-DOWN state
      automatically, without operator intervention.

   o  Available (Lease or Prefix)

      A lease or delegable prefix is available if it could be allocated
      for use by a DHCP client.  It is available on the main server when
      it is in FREE state and available on the secondary server when it
      is in the FREE-BACKUP state.  Sometimes the term "available" is
      used when it would be awkward to say "FREE on the primary server
      and FREE-BACKUP on the secondary server".

   o  Binding-Status

      A lease can hold a variety of states (see Section 5.5.1 for a
      list) and these are also referred to as the binding-status of the
      lease.

   o  Delegable Prefix

      A prefix from which other prefixes may be delegated, using the
      mechanisms described in [RFC3633].  A prefix which has been
      delegated is known as a "delegated prefix" or a "prefix lease".

   o  Delegated Prefix

      A prefix which has been deletegated to a DHCP client as described
      in [RFC3633].  Depending on the context, a delegated prefix may
      also be described as a "prefix lease", when it is necessary to
      distinguish it from an "address lease".

   o  Failover endpoint

      The failover protocol allows for there to be a unique failover
      'endpoint' for each failover relationship in which a failover
      server participates.  The failover relationship is defined by a
      relationship name, and includes the failover partner IP address,
      the role this server takes with respect to that partner (primary
      or secondary), and the prefixes from which addresses can be leased
      as well as prefixes from which other prefixes can be delegated
      (delegable prefixes), associated with that relationship.  The
      failover endpoint can take actions and hold unique states.
      Typically, there is one failover endpoint per partner (server),
      although there may be more.

   o  Failover communication




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      All messages exchanged between partners.

   o  Independent Allocation

      An allocation algorithm that splits the available pool of address
      leases between the primary and secondary servers.  It is used for
      IPv6 address allocations.  See Section 4.2.1.

   o  Lease

      An association of a DHCP client with an IPv6 address or delegated
      prefix.  This might refer to either an existing association or a
      potential association.

   o  MCLT

      Maximum Client Lead Time.  The fundamental relationship on which
      much of the correctness of the failover protocol depends is that
      the lease expiration time known to a DHCP client MUST NOT be
      greater by more than the MCLT beyond the later of the partner
      lifetime time acknowledged by that server's failover partner or
      the current time (i.e., now).  See Section 4.4.

   o  Partner

      The other DHCP server that participates in a failover
      relationship.  When the role (primary or secondary) is not
      important, the other server is referred to as a "failover partner"
      or sometimes simply "partner".

   o  Prefix Lease

      A lease involving a prefix that is or could be delegated, as
      opposed to a lease for a single IPv6 address.  A prefix lease can
      also be described as a "delegated prefix".

   o  Primary Server

      First out of two DHCP servers that participate in a failover
      relationship.  When both servers are operating this server handles
      most of the client traffic.  Its failover partner is referred to
      as secondary server.

   o  Proportional Allocation

      An allocation algorithm that splits the delegable prefixes between
      the primary and secondary servers and maintains a more or less




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      fixed proportion of the delegable prefixes between both servers.
      Section 4.2.2.

   o  Renew Responsive

      A server that is renew responsive will respond to valid DHCP
      client requests that are directed to it by having an
      OPTION_SERVERID option in the message which contains the DUID of
      the renew responsive server.  See [RFC3315].

   o  Responsive

      A server that is responsive will respond to all valid DHCP client
      requests.

   o  Secondary Server

      Second of two DHCP servers that participate in a failover
      relationship.  Its failover partner is referred to as the primary
      server.  When both servers are operating this server (the
      secondary) typically does not handle client traffic and acts as a
      backup to the primary server.  It will respond, however, to RENEW
      requests directed specifically to it.

   o  Server

      A DHCP server that implements DHCPv6 failover.  'Server' and
      'failover endpoint' are synonymous only if the server participates
      in only one failover relationship.

   o  State

      The term state is used in two ways in this document.  A failover
      endpoint is always in some state, and there are a series of states
      that a failover endpoint can move through.  See Section 8 for
      details of the failover endpoint states.  A lease also has a
      state, and this is sometimes referred to as a binding-status.  See
      Section 5.5.1 for a list of the states a lease can hold.

   o  Time Context

      Each failover server has a clock and a definite idea of the
      current universal time.  Each server's idea of the current time is
      considered its time context.

   o  Unresponsive





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      A server that is unresponsive will not respond to DHCP client
      requests.

4.  Failover Concepts and Mechanisms

   The following concepts and mechanisms are necessary to the operation
   of the failover protocol, and they are not currently employed by the
   DHCPv6 protocol [RFC3315].  The failover protocol provides support
   for all of these concepts and mechanisms.

4.1.  Required Server Configuration

   Servers frequently have several kinds of leases available on a
   particular network segment.  The failover protocol assumes that both
   primary and secondary servers are configured identically with regard
   to the prefixes and links involved in DHCP.  For delegated prefixes
   (involved in proportional allocation) the primary server is
   responsible for allocating to the secondary server the correct
   proportion of the available delegated prefixes.  IPv6 addresses
   (involved in independent allocation) are allocated to the primary and
   secondary servers algorithmically, and do not require an explicit
   message transfer to be distributed.

4.2.  IPv6 Address and Delegable Prefix Allocation

   Currently there are two allocation algorithms defined, one for
   address leases and one for prefix leases.

4.2.1.  Independent Allocation

   In this allocation scheme, used for allocating individual IPv6
   addresses, available IPv6 addresses are permanently (until server
   configuration changes) split between servers.  Available IPv6
   addresses are split between the primary and secondary servers as part
   of initial connection establishment.  Once IPv6 addresses are
   allocated to each server, there is no need to reassign them.  The
   IPv6 address allocation is algorithmic in nature, and does not
   require a message exchange for each server to know which IPv6
   addresses it has been allocated.  This algorithm is simpler than
   proportional allocation since it does not require a rebalancing
   mechanism.  It also assumes that the pool assigned to each server
   will never deplete.

   Once each server is assigned a pool of IPv6 addresses during initial
   connection establishment, it may allocate its assigned IPv6 addresses
   to clients.  Once a client releases a lease or its lease on an IPv6
   address expires, the returned IPv6 address returns to the pool for
   the server that leased it.  A lease on an IPv6 address can be renewed



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   by a responsive server or by a renew responsive server.  When an IPv6
   address goes PENDING-FREE (see Section 7.2) it is owned by whichever
   server it is allocated to by the independent allocation algorithm.

   IPv6 addresses (which use the independent allocation approach) are
   ignored when a server processes a POOLREQ message.

   During COMMUNICATION-INTERRUPTED events, a partner MAY continue
   extending existing address leases as requested by clients.  An
   operational partner MUST NOT lease IPv6 addresses that were assigned
   to its downed partner and later expired or were released or declined
   by a client.  When it is in PARTNER-DOWN state, a server MUST
   allocate new leases from its own pool.  It MUST NOT use its partner's
   pool to allocate new leases.

4.2.1.1.  Independent Allocation Algorithm

   For each address that can be allocated, the primary server MUST
   allocate only IPv6 addresses when the low-order bit (i.e., bit 127)
   is equal to 1, and the secondary server MUST allocate only the IPv6
   addresses when the low-order bit (i.e., bit 127) is equal to 0.

4.2.2.  Proportional Allocation

   In this allocation scheme, each server has its own pool of prefixes
   available for delegation, known as "delegable prefixes".  These
   delegable prefixes may be prefixes from which other prefixes can be
   delegated or they may be prefixes which are the correct size for
   delegation but are not, at present, delegated to a particular client.
   Remaining delegable prefixes are split between the primary and
   secondary servers in a configured proportion.  Note that a delegated
   prefix (also known as a prefix lease) is not "owned" by a particular
   server.  Only a delegable prefix which is available is "owned" by a
   particular server -- once it has been delegated (leased) to a client
   it becomes a prefix lease and is not owned by either failover
   partner.  When it finally becomes available again, it will be owned
   initially by the primary server, and it may or may not be allocated
   to the secondary server by the primary server.

   The flow of a delegable prefix is as follows: initially the delegable
   prefix is part of a larger delegable prefix, all of which are
   initially owned by the primary server.  A delegable prefix may be
   allocated to the secondary server and then it is owned by the
   secondary server.  Either server can allocate and delegate prefixes
   out of the delegable prefixes which they own.  Once these prefixes
   are delegated (leased) to clients, the servers cease to own them and
   they are owned by the clients to which they have been delegated
   (leased).  When the client releases the delegated prefix or the lease



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   on it expires, it will again become available and will then be a
   delegable prefix and be owned by the primary.

   A server delegates prefixes only from its own pool of delegable
   prefixes in all states except for PARTNER-DOWN.  In PARTNER-DOWN
   state the operational partner can delegate prefixes from either pool
   (both its own, and its partner's after some time constraints have
   elapsed).  The operational partner SHOULD allocate from its own pool
   before using its partner's pool.  The allocation and maintenance of
   these pools of delegable prefixes is important, since the goal is to
   maintain a more or less constant ratio of delegable prefixes between
   the two servers.

   Each server knows which delegable prefixes are in its own pool as
   well as which are in its partner's pool, so that it can allocate
   delegable prefixes from its partner's pool without communication with
   its partner if that becomes necessary.

   The initial allocation of delegable prefixes from the primary to the
   secondary when the servers first integrate is triggered by the
   POOLREQ message from the secondary to the primary.  This is followed
   (at some point) by the POOLRESP message where the primary tells the
   secondary that it received and processed the POOLREQ message.  The
   primary sends the allocated delegable prefixes to the secondary as
   prefix leases via BNDUPD messages.  The POOLRESP message may be sent
   before, during, or at the completion of the BNDUPD message exchanges
   that were triggered by the POOLREQ message.  The POOLREQ/POOLRESP
   message exchange is a trigger to the primary to perform a scan of its
   database and to ensure that the secondary has enough delegable
   prefixes (based on some configured ratio).

   The delegable prefixes are sent to the secondary as prefix leases
   using the BNDUPD message containing an OPTION_IAPREFIX with a state
   of FREE-BACKUP, which indicates the prefix lease is now available for
   allocation by the secondary.  Once the message is sent, the primary
   MUST NOT use these prefixes for allocation to DHCP clients (except
   when the server is in PARTNER-DOWN state).

   The POOLREQ/POOLRESP message exchange initiated by the secondary is
   valid at any time both partners remain in contact, and the primary
   server SHOULD, whenever it receives the POOLREQ message, scan its
   database of delegable prefixes and determine if the secondary needs
   more delegable prefixes from any of the delegable prefixes which it
   currently owns.

   In order to support a reasonably dynamic balance of the leases
   between the failover partners, the primary server needs to do
   additional work to ensure that the secondary server has as many



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   delegable prefixes as it needs (but that it doesn't have more than it
   needs).

   The primary server SHOULD examine the balance of delegable prefixes
   between the primary and secondary for a particular prefix whenever
   the number of possibly delegable prefixes for either the primary or
   secondary changes by more than a predetermined amount.  Typically
   this comparison would not involve actually comparing the count of
   existing instances of delegable prefixes, but would instead involve
   determining the number prefixes that could be delegated given the
   address ranges of the delegable prefixes allocated to each server.
   The primary server SHOULD adjust the delegable prefix balance as
   required to ensure the configured delegable prefix balance, excepting
   that the primary server SHOULD employ some threshold mechanism to
   such a balance adjustment in order to minimize the overhead of
   maintaining this balance.

   The primary server can, at any time, send an available delegable
   prefix to the secondary using a BNDUPD with the state FREE-BACKUP.
   The primary server can attempt to take an available delegable prefix
   away from the secondary by sending a BNDUPD with the state FREE.  If
   the secondary accepts the BNDUPD, then the lease is now available to
   the primary and not available to the secondary.  Of course, the
   secondary MUST reject that BNDUPD if it has already allocated that
   lease to a DHCP client.

4.2.2.1.  Re-allocating Leases

   When in PARTNER-DOWN state there is a waiting period after which a
   delegated prefix can be re-allocated to another client.  For
   delegable prefixes which are "available" when the server enters
   PARTNER-DOWN state, the period is the MCLT from the entry into
   PARTNER-DOWN state.  For delegated prefixes which are not available
   when the server enters PARTNER-DOWN state, the period is the MCLT
   after the later of the following times: the acked-partner-lifetime,
   the partner-lifetime (if any), the expiration-time, and the entry to
   PARTNER-DOWN time plus the MCLT.

   In any other state, a server cannot reallocate a delegated prefix
   from one client to another without first notifying its partner
   (through a BNDUPD message) and receiving acknowledgement (through a
   BNDREPLY message) that its partner is aware that the first client is
   not using the lease.

   Specifically, an "available" delegable prefix on a server may be
   allocated to any client.  A prefix which was delegated (leased) to a
   client and which expired or was released by that client would take on
   a new state, EXPIRED or RELEASED respectively.  The partner server



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   would then be notified that this delegated prefix was EXPIRED or
   RELEASED through a BNDUPD.  When the sending server received the
   BNDREPLY for that delegated prefix showing it was FREE, it would move
   the lease from EXPIRED or RELEASED to FREE, and it would be available
   for allocation by the primary server to any clients.

   A server MAY reallocate a delegated prefix in the EXPIRED or RELEASED
   state to the same client with no restrictions provided it has not
   sent a BNDUPD message regarding the delegated prefix to its partner.
   This situation would exist if the prefix lease expired or was
   released after the transition into PARTNER-DOWN state, for instance.

4.3.  Lazy Updates

   The DHCPv6 Failover Requirements document includes the requirement
   that failover must not introduce significant performance impact on
   server response times (see Sections 7 and 5.2.2 of [RFC7031] ).  In
   order to realize this requirement a server implementing the failover
   protocol must be able respond to a DHCP client without waiting to
   update its failover partner whenever the binding database changes.
   The lazy update mechanism allows a server to allocate a new lease or
   extend an existing lease, respond to the DHCP client, and then update
   its failover partner as time permits.

   Although the lazy update mechanism does not introduce additional
   delays in server response times, it introduces other difficulties.
   The key problem with lazy update is that when a server fails after
   updating a DHCP client with a particular valid lifetime and before
   updating its failover partner, the failover partner will eventually
   believe that the client's lease has expired -- even though the DHCP
   client still retains a valid lease on that address or prefix.  It is
   also possible that the failover partner will have no record at all of
   the lease being assigned to the DHCP client.  Both of these issues
   are dealt with by use of the MCLT when allocating or extending leases
   (see Section 4.4).

4.4.  Maximum Client Lead Time (MCLT)

   In order to handle problems introduced by lazy updates (see
   Section 4.3), a period of time known as the "Maximum Client Lead
   Time" (MCLT) is defined and must be known to both the primary and
   secondary servers.  Proper use of this time interval places an upper
   bound on the difference allowed between the valid lifetime provided
   to a DHCP client by a server and the valid lifetime known by that
   server's failover partner.

   The MCLT is typically much less than the valid lifetime that a server
   has been configured to offer a client, and so some strategy must



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   exist to allow a server to offer the configured valid lifetime to a
   client.  During a lazy update the updating server updates its
   failover partner with a partner lifetime which is longer than the
   valid lifetime previously given to the DHCP client and which is
   longer than the valid lifetime that the server has been configured to
   give a client.  This allows the server to give the configured valid
   lifetime to the client the next time the client renews its lease,
   since the time that it will give to the client will not be longer
   than the MCLT beyond the partner lifetime acknowledged by its partner
   or the current time.

   The fundamental relationship on which the failover protocol depends
   is: the lease expiration time known to a DHCP client MUST NOT be
   greater by more than the MCLT beyond the later of the partner
   lifetime acknowledged by that server's failover partner and the
   current time.

   The remainder of this section makes the above fundamental
   relationship more explicit.

   The failover protocol requires a DHCP server to deal with several
   different lease intervals and places specific restrictions on their
   relationships.  The purpose of these restrictions is to allow the
   partner to be able to make certain assumptions in the absence of an
   ability to communicate between servers.

   In the following explanation, all of the lifetimes are "valid"
   lifetimes, in the context of [RFC3315].

   The different times are:

   desired lifetime:
      The desired lifetime is the lease interval that a DHCP server
      would like to give to a DHCP client in the absence of any
      restrictions imposed by the failover protocol.  Its determination
      is outside of the scope of the failover protocol.  Typically this
      is the result of external configuration of a DHCP server.

   actual lifetime:
      The actual lifetime is the lease interval that a DHCP server gives
      out to a DHCP client.  It may be shorter than the desired lifetime
      (as explained below).

   partner lifetime:
      The partner lifetime is the lease expiration interval the local
      server tells to its partner in a BNDUPD message.

   acknowledged partner lifetime:



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      The acknowledged partner lifetime is the partner lifetime the
      partner server has most recently acknowledged in a BNDREPLY
      message.

4.4.1.  MCLT example

   The following example demonstrates the MCLT concept in practice.  The
   values used are arbitrarily chosen and are not a recommendation for
   actual values.  The MCLT in this case is 1 hour.  The desired
   lifetime is 3 days, and its renewal time is half the lifetime.

   When a server makes an offer for a new lease on an IPv6 address to a
   DHCP client, it determines the desired lifetime (in this case, 3
   days).  It then examines the acknowledged partner lifetime (which in
   this case is zero) and determines the remainder of the time left to
   run, which is also zero.  It adds the MCLT to this value.  Since the
   actual lifetime cannot be allowed to exceed the remainder of the
   current acknowledged partner lifetime plus the MCLT, the offer made
   to the client is for the remainder of the current acknowledged
   partner lifetime (i.e. zero) plus the MCLT.  Thus, the actual
   lifetime is 1 hour (the MCLT).

   Once the server has sent the REPLY to the DHCP client, it will update
   its failover partner with the lease information using a BNDUPD
   message.  The partner lifetime will be composed of the T1 fraction
   (1/2) of the actual lifetime added to the desired lifetime.  Thus,
   the failover partner is updated using a BNDUPD with a partner
   lifetime of 1/2 hour + 3 days.

   When the primary server receives a BNDREPLY to its update of the
   secondary server's (partner's) partner lifetime, it records that as
   the acknowledged partner lifetime.  A server MUST NOT send a BNDREPLY
   in response to a BNDUPD message until it is sure that the information
   in the BNDUPD message has been updated in its lease database.  See
   Section 7.5.2.  Thus, the primary server in this case can be sure
   that the secondary server has recorded the partner lifetime in its
   stable storage when the primary server receives a BNDREPLY message
   from the secondary server.

   When the DHCP client attempts to renew at T1 (approximately one half
   an hour from the start of the lease), the primary server again
   determines the desired lifetime, which is still 3 days.  It then
   compares this with the original acknowledged partner lifetime (1/2
   hour + 3 days) and adjusts for the time passed since the secondary
   was last updated (1/2 hour).  Thus the time remaining of the
   acknowledged partner interval is 3 days.  Adding the MCLT to this
   yields 3 days plus 1 hour, which is more than the desired lifetime of




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   3 days.  So the client may have its lease renewed for the desired
   lifetime -- 3 days.

   When the primary DHCP server updates the secondary DHCP server after
   the DHCP client's renewal REPLY is complete, it will calculate the
   partner lifetime as the T1 fraction of the actual client lifetime
   (1/2 of 3 days this time = 1.5 days).  To this it will add the
   desired lifetime of 3 days, yielding a total partner lifetime of 4.5
   days.  In this way, the primary attempts to have the secondary always
   "lead" the client in its understanding of the client's lifetime so as
   to be able to always offer the client the desired lifetime.

   Once the initial actual client lifetime of the MCLT is past, the
   protocol operates effectively like the DHCP protocol does today in
   its behavior concerning lifetimes.  However, the guarantee that the
   actual client lifetime will never exceed the remaining acknowledged
   partner server partner lifetime by more than the MCLT allows full
   recovery from a variety of DHCP server failures.

































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      Fundamental relationship:
      lease time = floor(desired lifetime, ack-partner-lifetime + MCLT)

      Initial conditions: MCLT = 1h, desired lifetime = 3d

                 DHCPv6               Primary             Secondary
          time   Client               Server               Server

                   | >-SOLICIT------>    |                    |
                   |  acknowledged partner lifetime = 0       |
                   |  lease time = floor( 3d, 0 + 1h ) = 1h   |
                   |   <-----ADVERTISE-< |                    |
                   |     lease-time= 1h  |                    |
                   | >-REQUEST------>    |                    |
            t      |   <---------REPLY-< |                    |
                   |     lease-time= 1h  |                    |
                   |                     |  >-BNDUPD------>   |
                   |                     |  partner-lifetime = 1/2h + 3d
                   |                     |    <----BNDREPLY-< |
                   |                     |  partner-lifetime = 1/2h + 3d
      1/2h passes ...                   ...                  ...
         t+1/2h    | >-RENEW-------->    |                    |
                   |   acknowledged partner lifetime = 3d     |
                   |   lease time = floor( 3d, 3d + 1h ) = 3d |
                   |   <---------REPLY-< |                    |
                   |   lease-time=3d     |                    |
                   |                     | >-BNDUPD------->   |
                   |                     |  partner-lifetime = 1.5d + 3d
                   |                     |    <----BNDREPLY-< |
                   |                     |  partner-lifetime = 1.5d + 3d
                       acknowledged partner lifetime = 1.5d + 3d
      1.5d passes ...                   ...                  ...
                   |                     |                    |
     t+1.5d + 1/2h | >-RENEW-------->    |                    |
                   |  acknowledged partner lifetime = 3d      |
                   |   lease time = floor( 3d, 3d + 1h ) = 3d |
                   |   <---------REPLY-< |                    |
                   |   lease-time=3d     |                    |
                   |                     | >-BNDUPD------->   |
                   |                     |  partner-lifetime = 1.5d + 3d
                   |                     |    <----BNDREPLY-< |
                   |                     |  partner-lifetime = 1.5d + 3d
                   | acknowledged partner lifetime = 1.5d + 3d|

                          Figure 1: MCLT Example






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5.  Message and Option Definitions

5.1.  Message Framing for TCP

   Failover communication is conducted over a TCP connection established
   between the partners.  The protocol uses the framing format specified
   in Section 5.1 of DHCPv6 Bulk Leasequery [RFC5460], but uses
   different message types with a different message format, described in
   Section 5.2.  The TCP connection between failover servers is made to
   a specific port, the dhcp-failover port, port 647.  All information
   is sent over the connection as typical DHCP messages that convey DHCP
   options, following the format defined in Section 22.1 of [RFC3315].

5.2.  Failover Message Format

   All Failover messages defined below share a common format with a
   fixed size header and a variable format area for options.  All values
   in the message header and in any included options are in network byte
   order.

   The following diagram illustrates the format of DHCP messages
   exchanged between failover partners (which is compatible with the
   format described in Section 6 of [RFC3315]):




























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       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    msg-type   |               transaction-id                  |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                           sent-time                           |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                                                               .
      .                            options                            .
      .                           (variable)                          .
      .                                                               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      msg-type             Identifies the DHCP message type; the
                           available message types are listed below.
                           Note that since the TCP connection for
                           failover is made to a unique port, the
                           msg-type codes are allocated from a registry
                           distinct from the Dynamic Host Configuration
                           Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6) Message Types
                           registry.

      transaction-id       The transaction ID for this message exchange.

      sent-time            The time the message was transmitted (set
                           as close to transmission as practical),
                           in seconds since midnight (UTC),
                           January 1, 2000, modulo 2^32.  Used to
                           determine the time skew of the failover
                           partners.

      options              Options carried in this message.  These
                           options are all defined in the Dynamic Host
                           Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6)
                           Option Codes registry.  A number of existing
                           DHCPv6 options are used and several more
                           are defined in this document.

5.3.  Messages

   The following list contains the new message types created for
   failover communication.

5.3.1.  BNDUPD

   The binding update message BNDUPD (TBD1) is used to send the binding
   lease changes to the partner.  At most one OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option
   may appear in a BNDUPD message.  Note that not all data in a BNDUPD



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   is sent in an OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option.  Information about delegable
   prefixes not currently allocated to a particular client is sent in
   BNDUPD messages but not within OPTION_CLIENT_DATA options.  The
   partner is expected to respond with a BNDREPLY message.

5.3.2.  BNDREPLY

   The binding acknowledgement message BNDREPLY (TBD2) is used for
   confirmation of the received BNDUPD message.  It may contain a
   positive or negative response (e.g. due to detected lease conflict).

5.3.3.  POOLREQ

   The Pool Request message POOLREQ (TBD3) is used by the secondary
   server to request allocation of delegable prefixes from the primary
   server.  The primary responds with POOLRESP.

5.3.4.  POOLRESP

   The Pool Response POOLRESP (TBD4) message is used by the primary
   server to indicate that it has received the secondary's servers
   request to ensure that delegable prefixes are balanced between the
   primary and secondary servers.  It does not indicate that all of the
   BNDUPDs that might be created from any rebalancing have been sent or
   responded to, it only indicates reception and acceptance of the task
   of ensuring the balance is examined and corrected as necessary.

5.3.5.  UPDREQ

   The update request message UPDREQ (TBD5) is used by one server to
   request that its partner sends all binding database changes that have
   not yet been confirmed.  The partner is expected to respond with zero
   or more BNDUPD messages, followed by an UPDDONE message that signals
   that all of the BNDUPD messages have been sent and a corresponding
   BNDREPLY message has been received for each of them.

5.3.6.  UPDREQALL

   The update request all UPDREQALL (TBD6) is used by one server to
   request that all binding database information present in the other
   server be sent to the requesting server, in order to recover from a
   total loss of its binding database by the requesting server.  A
   server receiving this request responds with zero or more BNDUPD
   messages, followed by an UPDDONE that signals that all of the BNDUPD
   messages have been sent and a corresponding BNDREPLY message has been
   received for each of them.





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5.3.7.  UPDDONE

   The update done message UPDDONE (TBD7) is used by the server
   responding to an UPDREQ or UPDREQALL to indicate that all requested
   updates have been sent by the responding server and acked by the
   requesting server.

5.3.8.  CONNECT

   The connect message CONNECT (TBD8) is used by the primary server to
   establish a failover connection with the secondary server, and to
   transmit several important configuration attributes items between the
   servers.  The partner is expected to confirm by responding with
   CONNECTREPLY message.

5.3.9.  CONNECTREPLY

   The connect acknowledgement message CONNECTREPLY (TBD9) is used by
   the secondary server to respond to a CONNECT message from the primary
   server.

5.3.10.  DISCONNECT

   The disconnect message DISCONNECT (TBD10) is used by either server
   when closing a connection and shutting down.  No response is required
   for this message.  The DISCONNECT message SHOULD contain an
   OPTION_STATUS_CODE option with an appropriate status.  Often this
   will be ServerShuttingDown.  See Section 5.6.  A server SHOULD
   include a descriptive message as to the reasons causing the
   disconnect message.

5.3.11.  STATE

   The state message STATE (TBD11) is used by either server to inform
   its partner about a change of failover state.  In some cases it may
   be used to also inform the partner about the current state, e.g.
   after connection is established in COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED or
   PARTNER-DOWN states.

5.3.12.  CONTACT

   The contact message CONTACT (TBD12) is used by either server to
   ensure that its partner continues to see the connection as
   operational.  It MUST be transmitted periodically over every
   established connection if other message traffic is not flowing, and
   it MAY be sent at any time.  See Section 6.5.





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5.4.  Transaction Id

   The initiator of a message exchange MUST set the transaction-id.
   This means that all of the messages above except BNDREPLY, POOLRESP,
   UPDDONE, and CONNECTREPLY must set the tranasction-id.  The
   transaction-id MUST be unique among all currently outstanding
   messages sent to the failover partner.  A straightforward way to
   ensure this is to simply use an incrementing value, with one caveat.
   The UPDREQ and UPDREQALL messages may be separated by a considerable
   time prior to the receipt of an UPDDONE message.  While the usual
   pattern of message exchange would have the partner doing the vast
   majority of message initiation, it is remotely possible that the
   partner which initiated the UPDREQ or UPDREQALL messages might also
   send enough messages to wrap the 24-bit transaction-id and duplicate
   the transaction-id of the outstanding UPDREQ or UPDREQALL.  Thus, it
   is important to ensure that the transaction-id of a currently
   outstanding UPDREQ or UPDREQALL is not replicated in any message
   initiated prior to the receipt of the corresponding UPDDONE.

5.5.  Options

   The following new options are defined.

5.5.1.  OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS

   The binding-status represents an implementation independent
   representation of the status (or the state) of a lease on an IPv6
   address or prefix.

   This is an unsigned byte.

   The code for this option is TBD13.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS    |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      | binding-status|
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS (TBD13).
      option-len        1.
      binding-status    The binding-status.  See below.






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      Value   binding-status
      -----   --------------
      0       reserved
      1       ACTIVE
      2       EXPIRED
      3       RELEASED
      4       PENDING-FREE
      5       FREE
      6       FREE-BACKUP
      7       ABANDONED
      8       RESET

   The binding-status values are discussed in Section 7.2

5.5.2.  OPTION_F_CONNECT_FLAGS

   Flags which indicate attributes of the connecting server.

   This consists of an unsigned 16 bit value in network byte order.

   The code for this option is TBD14.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    OPTION_F_CONNECT_FLAGS     |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |             flags             |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_CONNECT_FLAGS (TBD14).
      option-len        2.
      flags             flag bits, see below:

















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       0                   1
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |           MBZ               |F|
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      The bits (numbered from the most-significant bit in network
      byte-order) are used as follows:

      0-14:   MBZ
              Must be zero
      15 (F): FIXED_PD_LENGTH
              Set to 1 to indicate that all prefixes delegated from a
              given delegable prefix have the same prefix length (size).
              If this is not set, the prefixes delegated from one
              delegable prefix may have different sizes.

   If the FIXED_PD_LENGTH bit is not set, it indicates that prefixes of
   a range of sizes can be delegated from a given delegable prefix.
   Note that if the FIXED_PD_LENGTH bit is set, each delegable prefix
   may have its own fixed size -- this flag does not imply that all
   prefixes delegated will be the same size, rather that all prefixes
   delegated from the same delegable prefix will be the same size.

   If the FIXED_PD_LENGTH bit is set, the length used for each prefix is
   specified independent of the failover protocol, but must be known to
   both failover partners.  It might be specified in the configuration
   for each delegable prefix or it might be fixed for the entire server.

5.5.3.  OPTION_F_DNS_REMOVAL_INFO

   This option contains the information necessary to remove a DNS name
   that was entered by the failover partner.

   The code for this option is TBD15.
















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       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   OPTION_F_DNS_REMOVAL_INFO   |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      encapsulated-options                     |
      |                           (variable)                          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_DNS_REMOVAL_INFO (TBD15).
      option-len        variable
      sub-options       Three possible encapsulated options:
                        OPTION_F_DNS_HOST_NAME
                        OPTION_F_DNS_ZONE_NAME
                        OPTION_F_DNS_FLAGS

5.5.4.  OPTION_F_DNS_HOST_NAME

   Contains the host name that was entered into DNS by the failover
   partner.

   This is a DNS name encoded in [RFC1035] format as specified in
   Section 8 of [RFC3315].

   The code for this option is TBD16.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |     OPTION_F_DNS_HOST_NAME    |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                                                               .
      .                                                               .
      .                           host-name                           .
      .                           (variable)                          .
      .                                                               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_DNS_HOST_NAME (TBD16).
      option-len        length of host-name.
      host-name         RFC 1035 encoded host-name.

5.5.5.  OPTION_F_DNS_ZONE_NAME

   Contains the zone name that was entered into DNS by the failover
   partner.




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   This is a DNS name encoded in [RFC1035] format as specified in
   Section 8 of [RFC3315].

   The code for this option is TBD17.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |     OPTION_F_DNS_ZONE_NAME    |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                                                               .
      .                                                               .
      .                           zone-name                           .
      .                           (variable)                          .
      .                                                               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_DNS_ZONE_NAME (TBD17).
      option-len        length of zone-name.
      zone-name         RFC 1035 encoded zone name.

5.5.6.  OPTION_F_DNS_FLAGS

   Flags which indicate what needs to be done to remove this DNS name.

   This consists of an unsigned 16 bit value in network byte order.

   The code for this option is TBD18.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |       OPTION_F_DNS_FLAGS      |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |             flags             |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_DNS_FLAGS (TBD18).
      option-len        2.
      flags             flag bits, see below:









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       0                   1
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |           MBZ         |U|S|R|F|
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      The bits (numbered from the most-significant bit in network
      byte-order) are used as follows:

      0-11:   MBZ
              Must be zero
      12 (U): USING_REQUESTED_FQDN
              Set to 1 to indicate that name used came from the
              FQDN that was received from the client.
      13 (S): SYNTHESIZED_NAME
              Set to 1 to indicate that the name was synthesized
              based on some algorithm.
      14 (R): REV_UPTODATE
              Set to 1 to indicate that the reverse zone is up to date.
      15 (F): FWD_UPTODATE
              Set to 1 to indicate that the forward zone is up to date.

   If both the U and S bits are unset, then the name must have been
   provided from some alternative configuration, such as client
   registration in some database accessible to the DHCP server.

5.5.7.  OPTION_F_EXPIRATION_TIME

   The greatest lifetime that this server has ever acked to its partner
   in a BNDREPLY for a particular lease or prefix.  This MUST be an
   absolute time (i.e. seconds since midnight January 1, 2000 UTC,
   modulo 2^32).

   This is an unsigned 32-bit integer in network byte order.

   The code for this option is TBD19.















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       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   OPTION_F_EXPIRATION_TIME    |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                        expiration-time                        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_EXPIRATION_TIME (TBD19).
      option-len        4.
      expiration-time   The expiration time. This MUST be an
                        absolute time (i.e. seconds since midnight
                        January 1, 2000 UTC, modulo 2^32).


5.5.8.  OPTION_F_MAX_UNACKED_BNDUPD

   The maximum number of BNDUPD messages that this server is prepared to
   accept over the TCP connection without causing the TCP connection to
   block.

   This is an unsigned 32-bit integer in network byte order.

   The code for this option is TBD20.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |  OPTION_F_MAX_UNACKED_BNDUPD  |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                       max-unacked-bndupd                      |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code        OPTION_F_MAX_UNACKED_BNDUPD (TBD20).
      option-len         4.
      max-unacked-bndupd Maximum number of unacked BNDUPD message
                         allowed.

5.5.9.  OPTION_F_MCLT

   The maximum-client-lead-time (MCLT) is the upper bound on the
   difference allowed between the valid lifetime provided to a DHCP
   client by a server and the valid lifetime known by that server's
   failover partner.  It is an interval, measured in seconds.  See
   Section 4.4.

   This is an unsigned 32-bit integer in network byte order.



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   The code for this option is TBD21.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |         OPTION_F_MCLT         |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                              mclt                             |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_MCLT (TBD21).
      option-len        4.
      mclt              The maximum-client-lead-time, in seconds.

5.5.10.  OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME

   The time after which the partner can consider an IPv6 address expired
   and is able to re-use the IPv6 address.  This MUST be an absolute
   time (i.e. seconds since midnight January 1, 2000 UTC, modulo 2^32).

   This is an unsigned 32-bit integer in network byte order.

   The code for this option is TBD22.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME   |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                        partner-lifetime                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_PARTER_LIFETIME (TBD22).
      option-len        4.
      partner-lifetime  The partner-lifetime. This MUST be an
                        absolute time (i.e. seconds since midnight
                        January 1, 2000 UTC, modulo 2^32).

5.5.11.  OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME_SENT

   The time that was received in an OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME
   Section 5.5.10 option.  This is an exact duplicate (echo) of the time
   received in the OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME option, uncorrected and
   unadjusted in any way.  This MUST be an absolute time (i.e. seconds
   since midnight January 1, 2000 UTC, modulo 2^32).




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   This is an unsigned 32-bit integer in network byte order.

   The code for this option is TBD23.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME_SENT |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      partner-lifetime-sent                    |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code            OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME_SENT (TBD23).
      option-len             4.
      partner-lifetime-sent  The partner-lifetime received in an
                             OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME option.
                             This MUST be an absolute time
                             (i.e. seconds since midnight
                             January 1, 2000 UTC, modulo 2^32).

5.5.12.  OPTION_F_PARTNER_DOWN_TIME

   The time that the partner most recently lost communications with its
   failover partner.  This MUST be an absolute time (i.e.  seconds since
   midnight January 1, 2000 UTC, modulo 2^32).

   This is an unsigned 32-bit integer in network byte order.

   The code for this option is TBD24.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   OPTION_F_PARTNER_DOWN_TIME  |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                       partner-down-time                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_PARTNER_DOWN_TIME (TBD24).
      option-len        4.
      partner-down-time Contains the partner-down-time. This MUST be an
                        absolute time (i.e. seconds since midnight
                        January 1, 2000 UTC, modulo 2^32).






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5.5.13.  OPTION_F_PARTNER_RAW_CLT_TIME

   The time when the partner most recently interacted with the DHCP
   client associated with this IPv6 address or prefix.  This MUST be an
   absolute time (i.e. seconds since midnight January 1, 2000 UTC,
   modulo 2^32).

   This is an unsigned 32-bit integer in network byte order.

   The code for this option is TBD25.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      | OPTION_F_PARTNER_RAW_CLT_TIME |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      partner-raw-clt-time                     |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code          OPTION_F_PARTNER_RAW_CLT_TIME (TBD25).
      option-len           4.
      partner-raw-clt-time Contains the partner-raw-clt-time. This MUST
                           be an absolute time (i.e. seconds since
                           midnight January 1, 2000 UTC, modulo 2^32).

5.5.14.  OPTION_F_PROTOCOL_VERSION

   The protocol version allows one failover partner to determine the
   version of the protocol being used by the other partner, to allow for
   changes and upgrades in the future.  Two components are provided, to
   allow for large and small changes to be represented in one 32-bit
   number.  The intent is that large changes would result in an
   increment of the major-version, while small changes would result in
   an increment of the minor-version.  As subsequent updates and
   extensions of this document can define changes to these values in any
   way deemed appropriate no attempt is made to further define large and
   small in this document.

   This consists of two unsigned 16-bit integers, in network byte order.

   The code for this option is TBD26.









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       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   OPTION_F_PROTOCOL_VERSION   |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |        major-version          |        minor-version          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_PROTOCOL_VERSION (TBD26).
      option-len        4.
      major-version     The major version of the protocol.  Initially 1.
      minor-version     The minor version of the protocol.  Initially 0.

5.5.15.  OPTION_F_KEEPALIVE_TIME

   The number of seconds (an interval) within which the server must
   receive a message from its partner, or it will assume that
   communications from the partner is not ok.

   This is an unsigned 32-bit integer in network byte order.

   The code for this option is TBD27.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |    OPTION_F_KEEPALIVE_TIME    |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                         keepalive-time                        |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_KEEPALIVE_TIME (TBD27).
      option-len        4.
      receive-time      The keepalive-time.  An interval of seconds.

5.5.16.  OPTION_F_RECONFIGURE_DATA

   Contains the information necessary for one failover partner to use
   the reconfigure-key created on the other failover partner.

   The code for this option is TBD28.









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       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   OPTION_F_RECONFIGURE_DATA   |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                        reconfigure-time                       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                                                               .
      .                                                               .
      .                        reconfigure-key                        .
      .                           (variable)                          .
      .                                                               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_RECONFIGURE_DATA (TBD28).
      option-len        4 + length of reconfigure-key.
      reconfigure-time  Time at which reconfigure-key was created.
                        This MUST be an absolute time (i.e. seconds
                        since midnight
                        January 1, 2000 UTC, modulo 2^32).
      reconfigure-key   The reconfigure-key.

5.5.17.  OPTION_F_RELATIONSHIP_NAME

   A name for this failover relationship.  Used to distinguish between
   relationships when there are multiple failover relationships between
   two failover servers.

   A UTF-8 encoded text string suitable for display to an end user,
   which MUST NOT be null-terminated.

   The code for this option is TBD29.



















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       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   OPTION_F_RELATIONSHIP_NAME  |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                                                               .
      .                                                               .
      .                       relationship-name                       .
      .                           (variable)                          .
      .                                                               |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_RELATIONSHIP_NAME (TBD29).
      option-len        length of relationship-name.
      relationship-name A UTF-8 encoded text string suitable for
                        display to an end user, which MUST NOT be
                        null-terminated.

5.5.18.  OPTION_F_SERVER_FLAGS

   The OPTION_F_SERVER_FLAGS option specifies information associated
   with the failover endpoint sending the option.

   This is an unsigned byte.

   The code for this option is TBD30.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |     OPTION_F_SERVER_FLAGS     |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |  server-flags |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_SERVER_FLAGS (TBD30).
      option-len        1.
      server-flags      The server flags, see below:












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       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |   MBZ   |A|S|C|
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      The bits (numbered from the most-significant bit in network
      byte-order) are used as follows:

      0-4  : MBZ
             Must be zero
      5 (A): ACK_STARTUP
             Set to 1 to indicate that the OPTION_F_SERVER_FLAGS most
             recently received contained the STARTUP bit set.
      6 (S): STARTUP,
             MUST be set to 1 whenever the server is in STARTUP state.
      7 (C): COMMUNICATED
             Set to 1 to indicate that the sending server has
             communicated with its partner.

5.5.19.  OPTION_F_SERVER_STATE

   The OPTION_F_SERVER_STATE option specifies the endpoint state of the
   server sending the option.

   This is an unsigned byte.

   The code for this option is TBD31.


       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |     OPTION_F_SERVER_STATE     |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |  server-state |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code       OPTION_F_SERVER_STATE (TBD31).
      option-len        1.
      server-state      Failover endpoint state.











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      Value   Server State
      -----   ----------------------------------------------------------
      0       reserved
      1       STARTUP                Startup state (1)
      2       NORMAL                 Normal state
      3       COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED Communication interrupted
      4       PARTNER-DOWN           Partner down
      5       POTENTIAL-CONFLICT     Synchronizing
      6       RECOVER                Recovering bindings from partner
      7       SHUTDOWN               Shutting down for a long period.
      8       RECOVER-DONE           Interlock state prior to NORMAL
      9       RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED Comm. failed during resolution
      10      CONFLICT-DONE          Primary resolved its conflicts

   These states are discussed in detail in Section 8.

   (1) The STARTUP state is never sent to the partner server, it is
   indicated by the STARTUP bit in the server-flags options (see
   Section 8.3).

5.5.20.  OPTION_F_START_TIME_OF_STATE

   The time at which the associated state began to hold its current
   value.  When this option appears in a STATE message, the state to
   which it refers is the server endpoint state.  When it appears in an
   IA_NA-options, IA_TA-options, or IA_PD-options field , the state to
   which it refers is the binding-status value in the OPTION_IA_NA,
   OPTION_IA_TA, or OPTION_IA_PD option, respectively.  This MUST be an
   absolute time (i.e.  seconds since midnight January 1, 2000 UTC,
   modulo 2^32).

   This is an unsigned 32-bit integer in network byte order.

   The code for this option is TBD32.

















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       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |  OPTION_F_START_TIME_OF_STATE |           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                      start-time-of-state                      |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code          OPTION_F_START_TIME_OF_STATE (TBD32).
      option-len           4.
      start-time-of-state  The start-time-of-state. This MUST be an
                           absolute time (i.e. seconds since midnight
                           January 1, 2000 UTC, modulo 2^32).

5.5.21.  OPTION_F_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME

   The state-expiration-time is the time at which the current state of
   this lease will expire.  This MUST be an absolute time (i.e. seconds
   since midnight January 1, 2000 UTC, modulo 2^32).

   Note that states other than ACTIVE may have a time associated with
   them.  In particular, EXPIRED might have a time associated with it,
   in the event that some sort of "grace period" existed where the lease
   would not be reused for a period after the lease expired.  The
   ABANDONED state might have a time associated with it, in the event
   that the servers participating in failover had a time after which an
   ABANDONED lease might be placed back into a pool for allocation to a
   client.  In general, if there is an OPTION_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME
   associated with a particular state, that indicates the associated
   state will expire and move to a different state at that time.

   This is an unsigned 32-bit integer in network byte order.

   The code for this option is TBD33.

















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       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      | OPTION_F_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME|           option-len          |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |                     state-expiration-time                     |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

      option-code            OPTION_F_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME (TBD33).
      option-len             4.
      state-expiration-time  The state-expiration-time.  This MUST be an
                             absolute time (i.e. seconds since midnight
                             January 1, 2000 UTC, modulo 2^32).

5.6.  Status Codes

   The following new status codes are defined, to be used in the
   OPTION_STATUS_CODE option.

   AddressInUse (TBD34)
      One client on one server has leases that are in conflict with the
      leases that the client has on another server.  Alternatively, the
      address could be associated with a different IAID on each server.

   ConfigurationConflict (TBD35)
      The configuration implied by the information in a BNDUPD (e.g. the
      IPV6 address or prefix address) is in direct conflict with the
      information known to the receiving server.

   MissingBindingInformation (TBD36)
      There is insufficient information in a BNDUPD to effectively
      process it.

   OutdatedBindingInformation (TBD37)
      Returned when the information in a server's binding database
      conflicts with the information found in an incoming BNDUPD, and
      the server believes that the information in its binding database
      more accurately reflects reality.

   ServerShuttingDown (TBD38)
      Returned when the server is undergoing an operator directed or
      otherwise planned shutdown.

   DNSUpdateNotSupported (TBD39)
      Returned when a server receives a BNDUPD with DNS update
      information included, and the server doesn't support DNS update.

   ExcessiveTimeSkew (TBD40)



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      Returned when a server detects that the time skew between its
      current time and its partner's current time is greater than 5
      seconds.

6.  Connection Management

   Communication between failover partners takes place over a long-lived
   TCP connection.  This connection is always initiated by the primary
   server, and if the long-lived connection is lost it is the
   responsibility of the primary server to attempt to reconnect to the
   secondary server.  The detailed process used by the primary server
   when initiating a connection and by the secondary server when
   responding to a connection attempt documented in Section 6.1 is
   followed each time a connection is established, regardless of any
   previous connection between the failover partners.

6.1.  Creating Connections

   Every primary server implementing the failover protocol MUST
   periodically attempt to create a TCP connection to the dhcp-failover
   port (647) of all of its configured partners, where the period is
   implementation dependent and SHOULD be configurable.  In the event
   that a connection has been rejected by a CONNECTREPLY message with a
   reject-reason option contained in it or a DISCONNECT message, a
   server SHOULD reduce the frequency with which it attempts to connect
   to that server but it MUST continue to attempt to connect
   periodically.

   Every secondary server implementing the failover protocol MUST listen
   for TCP connection attempts on the dhcp-failover port (647) from a
   primary server.

   After a primary server successfully establishes a TCP connection to a
   secondary server, it MUST continue the connection process as
   described in Section 8.2 of [RFC7653].  In the language of that
   section, the primary failover server operates as the "requestor" and
   the secondary failover server operates as the "DHCP server".  The
   message that is sent over the newly established connection is a
   CONNECT message, instead of an ACTIVELEASEQUERY message.

   When a connection attempt is received by a secondary server, the only
   information that the secondary server has is the IP address of the
   partner initiating a connection.  If it has any relationships with
   the connecting server for which it is a secondary server, it should
   operate as described in Section 9.1 of [RFC7653], with the exception
   that instead of waiting for an Active Leasequery message it will wait
   for a CONNECT message.  Once it has received the CONNECT message, it




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   will use the information in that message to determine which
   relationship this connection is to service.

   If it has no secondary relationships with the connecting server, it
   MUST drop the connection.

   To summarize -- a primary server MUST use a connection that it has
   initiated in order to send a CONNECT message.  Every server that is a
   secondary server in a relationship MUST listen for CONNECT messages
   from the primary server.

   When the CONNECT and CONNECTREPLY exchange successfully produces a
   working failover connection, the next message sent over a new
   connection is a STATE message.  See Section 6.3.  Upon the receipt of
   the STATE message, the receiver can consider communications ok.

6.1.1.  Sending a CONNECT message

   The CONNECT message is sent with information about the failover
   configuration on the primary server.  The message MUST contain at
   least the following information in the options area:

   o  OPTION_F_PROTOCOL_VERSION containing the protocol version that the
      primary server will use when sending failover messages.

   o  OPTION_F_MCLT containing the configured MCLT.

   o  OPTION_F_KEEPALIVE_TIME containing the number of seconds (an
      interval) within which the server must receive a message from its
      partner, or it will assume that communications from the partner is
      not ok.

   o  OPTION_F_UNACKED_BNDUPD containing the maximum number of BNDUPD
      messages that this server is prepared to accept over the failover
      connection without causing the connection to block.

   o  OPTION_F_RELATIONSHIP_NAME containing name of the failover
      relationship to which this connection applies.  If there is no
      OPTION_F_RELATIONSHIP_NAME in the CONNECT message, it indicates
      that there is only a single relationship between this pair of
      primary and secondary servers.

   o  OPTION_F_CONNECT_FLAGS containing information about certain
      attributes of the connecting servers.







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6.1.2.  Receiving a CONNECT message

   A server receiving a CONNECT message must process the information in
   the message and decide whether or not to accept the connection.  The
   processing is performed as follows:

   o  sent-time - The secondary server checks the sent-time to see if it
      is within 5 seconds of its current time.  See Section 7.1.  If it
      is not, return ExcessiveTimeSkew in the OPTION_STATUS_CODE to
      reject the CONNECT message.

   o  OPTION_F_PROTOCOL_VERSION - The secondary server decides if the
      protocol version of the primary server is supported by the
      secondary server.  If it is not, return NotSupported in the
      OPTION_STATUS_CODE to reject the CONNECT message.

   o  OPTION_F_MCLT - Use this MCLT supplied by the primary server.
      Remember this MCLT and use it until a different MCLT is supplied
      by some subsequent CONNECT message.

   o  OPTION_F_KEEPALIVE_TIME - Remember the keepalive-time as the
      FO_KEEPALIVE_TIME when implementing the Unreachability Detection
      algorithm described in Section 6.6.

   o  OPTION_F_UNACKED_BNDUPD - Ensure that the maximum amount of
      unacked BNDUPD messages queued to the primary server never exceeds
      the value in the OPTION_F_UNACKED_BNDUPD option.

   o  OPTION_F_CONNECT_FLAGS - Ensure that the secondary can process
      information from the primary as specified in the flags.  For
      example, if the secondary server cannot process prefix delegation
      with variable sized prefixes delegated from the same delegable
      prefix, and the primary server says that it can, the secondary
      should reject the connection.

   A CONNECT message SHOULD always be followed by a CONNECTREPLY
   message, either to accept the connection or to reject the connection
   by including an OPTION_STATUS_CODE option with an error reject.  In
   order to reject the connection attempt, simply send a CONNECTREPLY
   message with the OPTION_STATUS_CODE with the correct status.  If
   accepting the connection attempt, then send a CONNECTREPLY message
   with the following information:

   o  OPTION_F_PROTOCOL_VERSION containing the protocol version being
      used by the secondary server when sending failover messages.






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   o  OPTION_F_MCLT containing the MCLT currently in use on the
      secondary server.  This MUST equal the MCLT that was in the
      OPTION_F_MCLT option in the CONNECT.

   o  OPTION_F_KEEPALIVE_TIME containing the number of seconds (an
      interval) within which the server must receive a message from its
      partner, or it will assume that communications from the partner is
      not ok.

   o  OPTION_F_UNACKED_BNDUPD containing the maximum number of BNDUPD
      messages that this server is prepared to accept over the failover
      connection without causing the connection to block.

   o  OPTION_F_CONNECT_FLAGS - Place information into this option to
      describe the attributes of the secondary server that the primary
      needs to know about.

   After sending a CONNECTREPLY message to accept the primary server's
   CONNECT message, the secondary server MUST send a STATE message (see
   Section 6.3).

6.1.3.  Receiving a CONNECTREPLY message

   A server receiving a CONNECTREPLY message must process the
   information in the message and decide whether or not to continue to
   employ the connection.  The processing is performed as follows:

   o  OPTION_F_PROTOCOL_VERSION - The primary server decides if the
      protocol version in use by the secondary server is supported by
      the primary server.  If it is not, send a DISCONNECT message and
      drop the connection.  If it is supported, continue processing.  It
      is possible that the primary and secondary server will each be
      sending different versions of the protocol to the other server.
      The extent to which this is supported will be in part defined by
      as yet unknown differences in the protocols that the versions
      represent, and in part by the capabilities of the two
      implementations involved in the failover relationship.

   o  OPTION_F_MCLT - Compare the MCLT received with the configured
      MCLT, and if they are different send a DISCONNECT message and drop
      the connection.

   o  OPTION_F_KEEPALIVE_TIME - Remember the keepalive-time as the
      FO_KEEPALIVE_TIME when implementing the Unreachability Detection
      algorithm described in Section 6.6.






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   o  OPTION_F_UNACKED_BNDUPD - Ensure that the maximum amount of
      unacked BNDUPD messages queued to the secondary server never
      exceeds the value in the OPTION_F_UNACKED_BNDUPD option.

   o  OPTION_F_CONNECT_FLAGS - Ensure that the primary can process
      information from the secondary as specified in the flags.  For
      example, if the primary server cannot process prefix delegation
      with variable sized prefixes delegated from the same delegable
      prefix, and the secondary server says that it can, the primary
      should drop the connection.

   After receiving a CONNECTREPLY message that accepted the primary
   server's CONNECT message, the primary server MUST send a STATE
   message (see Section 6.3).

6.2.  Endpoint Identification

   A failover endpoint is always associated with a set of DHCP prefixes
   that are configured on the DHCP server where the endpoint appears.  A
   DHCP prefix MUST NOT be associated with more than one failover
   endpoint.

   The failover protocol SHOULD be configured with one failover
   relationship between each pair of failover servers.  In this case
   there is one failover endpoint for that relationship on each failover
   partner.  This failover relationship MUST have a unique name.

   Any failover endpoint can take actions and hold unique states.

   This document frequently describes the behavior of the protocol in
   terms of primary and secondary servers, not primary and secondary
   failover endpoints.  However, it is important to remember that every
   'server' described in this document is in reality a failover endpoint
   that resides in a particular process, and that several failover end-
   points may reside in the same server process.

   It is not the case that there is a unique failover endpoint for each
   prefix that participates in a failover relationship.  On one server,
   there is (typically) one failover endpoint per partner, regardless of
   how many prefixes are managed by that combination of partner and
   role.  On a particular server, any given prefix that participates in
   failover will be associated with exactly one failover endpoint.

   When a connection is received from the partner, the unique failover
   endpoint to which the message is directed is determined solely by the
   IPv6 address of the partner, the relationship-name, and the role of
   the receiving server.




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6.3.  Sending a STATE message

   A server MUST send a STATE message to its failover partner whenever
   the state of the failover endpoint changes.  Sending the occasional
   duplicate STATE message will cause no problems, and not updating the
   failover partner with information about a failover endpoint state
   change can, in many cases, cause the entire failover protocol to be
   inoperative.

   The STATE message is sent with information about the endpoint state
   of the failover relationship.  The STATE message MUST contain at
   least the following information in the options area:

   o  OPTION_F_SERVER_STATE containing the state of this failover
      endpoint.

   o  OPTION_F_SERVER_FLAGS containing the flag values associated with
      this failover endpoint.

   o  OPTION_F_START_TIME_OF_STATE containing the time when this became
      the state of this failover endpoint.

   o  OPTION_F_PARTNER_DOWN_TIME containing time that this failover
      endpoint went into PARTNER-DOWN state if this server is in
      PARTNER-DOWN state.  If this server isn't in PARTNER-DOWN state,
      do not include this option.

   The server sending a STATE message SHOULD ensure that this
   information is written to stable storage prior to enqueuing it to its
   failover partner.

6.4.  Receiving a STATE message

   A server receiving a STATE message must process the information in
   the message and decide how to react to the information.  The
   processing is performed as follows:

   o  OPTION_F_SERVER_STATE - If this represents a change in state for
      the failover partner, react according to the direction in
      Section 8.1.  If the state is not PARTNER-DOWN, clear any memory
      of the partner-down-time.

   o  OPTION_F_SERVER_FLAGS - Remember these flags in an appropriate
      data area so they can be referenced by code implementing other
      parts of this document.

   o  OPTION_F_START_TIME_OF_STATE - Remember this information in an
      appropriate data area.



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   o  OPTION_F_PARTNER_DOWN_TIME - Remember this information in an
      appropriate data area if the value of the OPTION_F_SERVER_STATE is
      PARTNER-DOWN.

   A server receiving a STATE message SHOULD ensure that this
   information is written to stable storage.

6.5.  Connection Maintenance Parameters

   The following parameters and timers are used to ensure the integrity
   of the connections between two failover servers.

      Parameter         Default   Description
      ------------------------------------------
      FO_KEEPALIVE_TIMER timer  counts down to time connection
                                assumed dead due to lack of messages

      FO_KEEPALIVE_TIME  60     maximum time server will consider
                                connection still up with no messages

      FO_CONTACT_PER_KEEPALIVE_TIME number of CONTACT messages to send
                         4      during partner's FO_KEEPALIVE_TIME
                                period

      FO_SEND_TIMER      timer  counts down to time to send next
                                CONTACT message

      FO_SEND_TIME       15     maximum time to wait between sending
                                CONTACT messages if no other traffic
                                Created from partner's FO_KEEPALIVE_TIME
                                divided by FO_CONTACT_PER_KEEPALIVE_TIME

6.6.  Unreachability detection

   Each partner MUST maintain an FO_SEND_TIMER for each failover
   connection.  The FO_SEND_TIMER for a particular connection is reset
   to FO_SEND_TIME every time any message is transmitted on that
   connection, and counts down once per second.  If the timer reaches
   zero, a CONTACT message is transmitted on that connection and the
   timer for that connection is reset to FO_SEND_TIME.  The CONTACT
   message may be transmitted at any time.  An implementation MAY use
   additional mechanisms to detect partner unreachability.

   The FO_SEND_TIME is initialized from the configured FO_KEEPALIVE_TIME
   divided by FO_CONTACT_PER_KEEPALIVE_TIME.  When a CONNECT or
   CONNECTREPLY message is received on a connection, the received
   OPTION_F_KEEPALIVE_TIME option is checked, and the value in that
   option is used to calculate the FO_SEND_TIME for that connection by



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   dividing the value received by the configured
   FO_CONTACT_PER_KEEPALIVE_TIME.

   Each partner MUST maintain an FO_KEEPALIVE_TIMER for each failover
   connection.  This timer is initialized to FO_KEEPALIVE_TIME and
   counts down once per second.  It is reset to FO_KEEPALIVE_TIME
   whenever a message is received on that connection.  If it ever
   reaches zero, that connection is considered dead.  In addition, the
   FO_KEEPALIVE_TIME for that connection MUST be sent to the failover
   partner on every CONNECT or CONNECTREPLY messages, in the
   OPTION_F_KEEPALIVE_TIME option.

7.  Binding Updates and Acks

7.1.  Time Skew

   Partners exchange information about known lease states.  To reliably
   compare a known lease state with an update received from a partner,
   servers must be able to reliably compare the times stored in the
   known lease state with the times received in the update.  The
   failover protocol adopts the simple approach of requiring that the
   failover partners use some mechanism to synchronize the clocks on the
   two servers to within an accuracy of roughly 5 seconds.

   A mechanism to measure and track relative time differences between
   servers is necessary to ensure this synchronization.  To do so, each
   message contains the time of the transmission in the time context of
   the transmitter in the sent-time field of the message (see
   Section 5.2).  The transmitting server MUST set this as close to the
   actual transmission as possible.  The receiving partner MUST store
   its own timestamp of reception as close to the actual reception as
   possible.  The received timestamp information is then compared with
   local timestamp.

7.2.  Information model

   In most DHCP servers a lease on an IPv6 address or a prefix can take
   on several different binding-status values, sometimes also called
   lease states.  While no two DHCP server implementations will have
   exactly the same possible binding-status values, [RFC3315] enforces
   some commonality among the general semantics of the binding-status
   values used by various DHCP server implementations.

   In order to transmit binding database updates between one server and
   another using the failover protocol, some common binding-status
   values must be defined.  It is not expected that these values
   correspond with any actual implementation of the DHCPv6 protocol in a
   DHCP server, but rather that the binding-status values defined in



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   this document should be convertible back and forth between those
   defined below and those in use by many DHCP server implementations.

   The lease binding-status values defined for the failover protocol are
   listed below.  Unless otherwise noted below, there MAY be client
   information associated with each of these binding-status value.

   ACTIVE  -- The lease is assigned to a client.  Client identification
      data MUST appear.

   EXPIRED  -- indicates that a client's binding on a given lease has
      expired.  When the partner acks the BNDUPD of an expired lease,
      the server sets its internal state to PENDING-FREE.  Client
      identification SHOULD appear.

   RELEASED  -- indicates that a client sent a RELEASE message.  When
      the partner acks the BNDUPD of a released lease, the server sets
      its internal state to PENDING-FREE.  Client identification SHOULD
      appear.

   PENDING-FREE  -- Once a lease is expired or released, its state
      becomes PENDING-FREE.  Depending on which algorithm and which pool
      was used to allocate a given lease, PENDING-FREE may either mean
      FREE or FREE-BACKUP.  Implementations do not have to implement
      this PENDING-FREE state, but may choose to switch to the
      destination state directly.  For clarity of representation, this
      transitional PENDING-FREE state is treated as a separate state.

   FREE  -- Is used when a DHCP server needs to communicate that a lease
      is unused by any client, but it was not just released, expired or
      reset by a network administrator.  When the partner acks the
      BNDUPD of a FREE lease, the server marks the lease as available
      for assignment by the primary server.  Note that on a secondary
      server running in PARTNER-DOWN state, after waiting the MCLT, the
      lease MAY be allocated to a client by the secondary server.
      Client identification MAY appear and indicates the last client to
      have used this lease as a hint.

   FREE-BACKUP  -- indicates that this lease can be allocated by the
      secondary server to a client at any time.  Note that on the
      primary server running in PARTNER-DOWN state, after waiting the
      MCLT, the lease MAY be allocated to a client by the primary server
      if proportional algorithm was used.  Client identification MAY
      appear and indicates the last client to have used this lease as a
      hint.

   ABANDONED  -- indicates that a lease is considered unusable by the
      DHCP system.  The primary reason for entering such state is



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      reception of DECLINE message for the lease.  Client identification
      MAY appear.

   RESET  -- indicates that this lease was made available by operator
      command.  This is a distinct state so that the reason that the
      lease became FREE can be determined.  Client identification MAY
      appear.

   Which binding-status values are associated with a timeout is
   implementation dependent.  Some binding-status values such as ACTIVE
   will have a timeout value in all implementations, while others such
   as ABANDONDED will have a timeout value in some implementations and
   not in others.  In some implementations a binding-status value may be
   associated with a timeout in some circumstances and not in other
   circumstances.  The receipt of a BNDUPD with a particular binding-
   status value and an OPTION_F_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME indicates that
   this particular binding-status value is associated with a timeout.

   The lease state machine is presented in Figure 2.  Most states are
   stationary, i.e. the lease stays in a given state until external
   event triggers transition to another state.  The only transitive
   state is PENDING-FREE.  Once it is reached, the state machine
   immediately transitions to either FREE or FREE-BACKUP state.




























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                   +---------+
    /------------->|  ACTIVE |<--------------\
    |              +---------+               |
    |                |  |  |                 |
    |       /--(8)--/  (3)  \--(9)-\         |
    |      |            |           |        |
    |      V            V           V        |
    |  +-------+   +--------+   +---------+  |
    |  |EXPIRED|   |RELEASED|   |ABANDONED|  |
    |  +-------+   +--------+   +---------+  |
    |      |            |            |       |
    |      |            |           (10)     |
    |      |            |            V       |
    |      |            |       +---------+  |
    |      |            |       |  RESET  |  |
    |      |            |       +---------+  |
    |      |            |            |       |
    |       \--(4)--\  (4)  /--(4)--/        |
    |                |  |  |                 |
   (1)               V  V  V                (2)
    |              /---------\               |
    |              | PENDING |               |
    |              |  FREE   |               |
    |              \---------/               |
    |                 |   |                  |
    |         /-(5)--/     \-(6)-\           |
    |        |                    |          |
    |        V                    V          |
    |    +-------+         +-----------+     |
    \----|  FREE |<--(7)-->|FREE-BACKUP|-----/
         +-------+         +-----------+

                          PENDING-FREE transition

                       Figure 2: Lease State Machine

   Transitions between states are results of the following events:

      1.  Primary server allocates a lease.

      2.  Secondary server allocates a lease.

      3.  Client sends RELEASE and the lease is released.

      4.  Partner acknowledges state change.  This transition MAY also
      occur if the server is in PARTNER-DOWN state and the MCLT has
      passed since the entry into RELEASED, EXPIRED, or RESET states.




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      5.  The lease belongs to a pool that is governed by the
      proportional allocation, or independent allocation is used and
      this lease belongs to primary server pool.

      6.  The lease belongs to a pool that is governed by the
      independent allocation and the lease belongs to the secondary
      server.

      7.  Pool rebalance event occurs (POOLREQ/POOLRESP messages are
      exchanged).  Delegable prefixes belonging to the primary server
      can be assigned to the secondary server pool (transition from FREE
      to FREE-BACKUP) or vice versa.

      8.  The lease has expired.

      9.  DECLINE message is received or a lease is deemed unusable for
      other reasons.

      10.  An administrative action is taken to recover an abandoned
      lease back to usable state.  This transition MAY occur due to an
      implementation specific handling on ABANDONED lease.  One possible
      example of such use is a Neighbor Discovery or ICMPv6 Echo check
      if the address is still in use.

   The lease that is no longer in use (due to expiration or release),
   becomes PENDING-FREE.  Depending on what allocation algorithm is
   used, the lease that is no longer is use, returns to the primary
   (FREE) or secondary pool (FREE-BACKUP).  The conditions for specific
   transitions are depicted in Figure 3.

   +----------------+---------+-----------+
   | \   Lease owner|         |           |
   |  \----------\  | Primary | Secondary |
   |Algorithm     \ |         |           |
   +----------------+---------+-----------+
   | Proportional   | FREE    |FREE-BACKUP|
   | Independent    | FREE    |    FREE   |
   +----------------+---------+-----------+

                 Figure 3: PENDING-FREE State Transitions

7.3.  Times Required for Exchanging Binding Updates

   Each server must keep track of the following specific times beyond
   those required by the base DHCP protocol [RFC3315].

   expiration-time




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      The greatest lifetime that this server has ever acked to its
      failover partner in a BNDREPLY.

   acked-partner-lifetime
      The greatest lifetime that the failover partner has ever acked to
      this server in a BNDREPLY.

   partner-lifetime
      The time that we will send (or have sent) the partner, which will
      be the time after which the partner can consider the lease
      expired.  When we receive a BNDUPD this value can be updated from
      the received OPTION_F_EXPIRATION_TIME.

   client-last-transaction-time
      The time when this server most recently interacted with the client
      associated with this lease.

   partner-raw-clt-time
      The time when the partner most recently interacted with the client
      associated with this lease.  This time remains exactly as it was
      received by this server, and MUST NOT be adjusted to be in the
      time context of this server.

   start-time-of-state
      The time when the binding-status of this lease was changed to its
      current value.

   state-expiration-time
      The time when the current state of this lease will expire.

7.4.  Sending Binding Updates

   Every BNDUPD message contains information about either a single
   client binding in an OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option that include IAADDR or
   IAPREFIX options associated with that client, or a single prefix
   lease in an OPTION_IAPREFIX option for prefixes that are currently
   not associated with any clients.

   All information about a particular client binding MUST be contained
   in a single OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option (see Section 4.1.2.2 of
   [RFC5007]).  The OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option contains at least the data
   shown below in its client-options section:

   o  OPTION_CLIENTID containing the DUID of the client most recently
      associated with this lease MUST appear;






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   o  OPTION_LQ_BASE_TIME containing the absolute time that the
      information was placed into this OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option (see
      Section 6.3.1 of [RFC7653]) MUST appear;

   o  OPTION_VSS (see Section 3.4 of [RFC6607]) This option MUST NOT
      appear if the information in this OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option is
      associated with the global, default VPN.  This option MUST appear
      if the information in this OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option is associated
      with a VPN other than the global, default VPN.  Support of
      [RFC6607] is not required, and OPTION_VSS is only used if a VPN
      other than the global, default VPN is used, which requires support
      of [RFC6607];

   o  OPTION_F_RECONFIGURE_DATA containing the time and reconfigure key,
      if any;

   o  OPTION_LQ_RELAY_DATA containing information described in
      Section 4.1.2.4 of [RFC5007], if any exists;

   o  OPTION_IA_NA or OPTION_IA_TA for an IPv6 Address or OPTION_IA_PD
      for an IPv6 Prefix.  More than one of either of these options MAY
      appear if there are more than one associated with this client.  At
      least one MUST appear;

      *  IAID - Identity Association used by the client, while obtaining
         a given lease.  (Note1: one client may use many IAIDs
         simultaneously.  Note2: IAID for IA, TA and PD are orthogonal
         number spaces.);

      *  T1 time sent to client;

      *  T2 time sent to client;

      *  Inside of the IA_NA-options, IA_TA-options, or IA_PD-option
         sections:

         +  OPTION_IAADDR for an IPv6 address or an OPTION_IAPREFIX for
            a IPv6 prefix MUST appear;

            -  IPv6 Address or IPv6 Prefix (with length);

            -  preferred lifetime sent to client;

            -  valid lifetime sent to client;

            -  Inside of the IAaddr-options or IAprefix-options:





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               o  OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS containing the binding-status
                  MUST appear;

               o  OPTION_F_START_TIME_OF_STATE containing the start-
                  time-of-state MUST appear;

               o  OPTION_F_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME (absolute) containing
                  the state-expiration-time*;

               o  OPTION_CLT_TIME (relative) containing the client-last-
                  transaction-time.  See [RFC5007] for this option;

               o  OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME (absolute) containing
                  partner-lifetime*;

               o  OPTION_F_PARTNER_RAW_CLT_TIME (absolute) containing
                  the partner-raw-clt-time;

               o  OPTION_F_EXPIRATION_TIME (absolute) containing the
                  expiration-time*;

               o  DHCP_O_CLIENT_FQDN containing the FQDN information
                  associated with this lease and client, if any;

   Information about a prefix lease is contained in a single
   OPTION_IAPREFIX option.  Only a single OPTION_IAPREFIX option may
   appear in a BNDUPD message outside of an OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option.
   In detail:

   o  OPTION_IAPREFIX for a prefix lease;

      *  IPv6 Prefix (with length);

      *  Inside of the IAprefix-options section:

         +  OPTION_VSS (see Section 3.4 of [RFC6607]) This option MUST
            NOT appear if the information in this OPTION_IAPREFIX option
            is associated with the global, default VPN.  This option
            MUST appear if the information in this OPTION_IAPREFIX
            option is associated with a VPN other than the global,
            default VPN.  Support of [RFC6607] is not required, and
            OPTION_VSS is only used if a VPN other than the global,
            default VPN is used, which requires support of [RFC6607];

         +  OPTION_LQ_BASE_TIME containing the absolute time that this
            information was placed into this OPTIONS_IAPREFIX option
            (see Section 6.3.1 of [RFC7653]) MUST appear;




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         +  OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS containing the binding-status MUST
            appear;

         +  OPTION_F_START_TIME_OF_STATE containing the start-time-of-
            state MUST appear;

         +  OPTION_F_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME (absolute) containing the
            state-expiration-time*;

         +  OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME (absolute) containing partner-
            lifetime*;

         +  OPTION_F_EXPIRATION_TIME (absolute) containing the
            expiration-time*;

   Items marked with a single asterisk (*) MUST appear only if the value
   in the OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS is associated with a timeout,
   otherwise it MUST NOT appear.  See Section 7.2 for details.

   The OPTION_CLT_TIME MUST, if it appears, be the time that the server
   last interacted with the DHCP client.  It MUST NOT be, for instance,
   the time that the lease expired if there has been no interaction with
   the DHCP client in question.

   A server SHOULD be prepared to clean up DNS information once the
   lease expires or is released.  See Section 9 for a detailed
   discussion about DNS update.  Another reason the partner may be
   interested in keeping additional data is to enable better support for
   Leasequery [RFC5007], Bulk Leasequery [RFC5460] or Active Leasequery
   [RFC7653], some of which feature queries based on Relay-ID, by link
   address and by Remote-ID.

7.5.  Receiving Binding Updates

7.5.1.  Monitoring Time Skew

   The sent-time from the Failover message is compared with the current
   time of the receiving server as recorded when it received the
   message.  The difference is noted, and if it is greater than 5
   seconds the receiving server SHOULD drop the connection.  A message
   SHOULD be logged to signal the reason for the connection being
   dropped.

   Any time can be before, after, or essentially the same as another
   time.  Any time which ends up being +/- 5 seconds of another time
   SHOULD be considered to be representing the same time when performing
   a comparison between two times.




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7.5.2.  Acknowledging Reception

   Upon acceptance of a binding update, the server MUST notify its
   partner that it has processed the binding update (and updated its
   lease state database if necessary) by sending a BNDREPLY.  A server
   MUST NOT send the BNDREPLY before its binding database is updated.

7.5.3.  Processing Binding Updates

   When a BNDUPD is received it MUST contain either a single
   OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option or a single OPTION_IAPREFIX option.

   When analyzing an BNDUPD message option from a partner server, if
   there is insufficient information in the BNDUPD message to process
   it, then it is rejected with an OPTION_STATUS_CODE of
   "MissingBindingInformation".

   The server receiving a BNDUPD update from its partner must evaluate
   the received information in each OPTION_CLIENT_DATA or IAPREFIX
   option to see if it is consistent with the server's already known
   state, and if it is not, decide to accept or reject the information.
   Section 7.5.4 provides the details how the server makes this
   determination.

   A server receiving a BNDUPD message MUST respond to the sender of
   that message with a BNDREPLY message which contains the same
   transaction-id as the BNDUPD message.  This BNDREPLY message MUST
   contain either a single OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option or a single
   OPTION_IAPREFIX option, corresponding to whatever was received in the
   BNDUPD message.

   An OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option or an OPTION_IAPREFIX option in the
   BNDREPLY which is accepted SHOULD NOT contain an OPTION_STATUS_CODE
   unless a status message needs to be sent to the failover partner, in
   which case it SHOULD include an OPTION_STATUS_CODE option with a
   status code indicating success and whatever message is needed.

   To indicate rejection of the information in an OPTION_CLIENT_DATA
   option, or an OPTION_IAPREFIX option, an OPTION_STATUS_CODE SHOULD be
   included with a status code indicating an error in the
   OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option or OPTION_IAPREFIX option in the BNDREPLY
   message.

7.5.4.  Accept or Reject?

   The first task in processing the information in an OPTION_CLIENT_DATA
   option or OPTION_IAPREFIX option is extract the client information
   (if any) and lease information out of the option, and to access the



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   address lease or prefix lease information in the server's binding
   database.

   If an OPTION_VSS option is specified in the OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option
   or OPTION_IAPREFIX option, if the VPN specified in the OPTION_VSS
   option does not appear in the configuration of the receiving server,
   reject the entire OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option or OPTION_IAPREFIX option
   with the reject-reason "ConfigurationConflict".

   If the lease specified in the OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option or
   OPTION_IAPREFIX option is not a lease associated with the failover
   endpoint which received the OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option, then reject it
   with reject-reason "ConfigurationConflict".

   In general, acceptance or rejection is based around the comparison of
   two different time values, one from the OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option or
   OPTION_IAPREFIX option in the BNDUPD message, and one from the
   receiving server's binding database associated with the address or
   prefix lease found in the BNDUPD message.  The time for the BNDUPD
   message where the OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS is ACTIVE, EXPIRED, or
   RELEASED is the OPTION_CLT_TIME if one appears, and the
   OPTION_F_START_TIME_OF_STATE if one does not.  For other binding-
   status values, the time for the BNDUPD message is the later of the
   OPTION_CLT_TIME if one appears, and the OPTION_F_START_TIME_OF_STATE.
   The time for the lease in the server's binding database is the
   client-last-transaction-time, if one appears, and the start-time-of-
   state if one does not.

   The basic approach is to compare these times, and if the one from the
   BNDUPD message is clearly later, then accept the information in the
   OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option or OPTION_IAPREFIX option.  If the one from
   the server's binding database is clearly later, then reject the
   information in the BNDUPD message.  The challenge comes when they are
   essentially the same (i.e., +/- 5 seconds).  In this case they are
   considered identical, despite the minor differences.  The table below
   (Figure 4) contains the rules for dealing with all of these
   situations.














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                          binding-status in received OPTION_CLIENT_DATA
                                                     or OPTION_IAPREFIX
   binding-status in
   receiving server's                                 FREE        RESET
   lease state DB   ACTIVE   EXPIRED   RELEASED   FREE-BACKUP  ABANDONED

   ACTIVE           accept(3) time(1)   accept     time(1)      accept
   EXPIRED          accept    accept    accept     accept       accept
   RELEASED         accept    accept    accept     accept       accept
   FREE/FREE-BACKUP accept    accept    accept     accept       accept
   RESET            time(2)   accept    accept     accept       accept
   ABANDONED        accept    accept    accept     accept       accept

                       Figure 4: Conflict Resolution

   accept: If the time value in the OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option or
   OPTION_IAPREFIX option is later than the time value in the server's
   binding database, accept it, else reject it.

   time(1): If the current time is later than the receiving server's
   state-expiration-time, accept it, else reject it.

   time(2): If the OPTION_CLT_TIME value (if it appears) in the
   OPTION_CLIENT_DATA is later than the start-time-of-state in the
   receiving server's binding, accept it, else reject it.

   accept,time(1),time(2): If rejecting, use reject reason
   "OutdatedBindingInformation".

   accept(3): If the client in an OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option and in a
   receiving server's binding differ, then if time(2) or the receiving
   server is a secondary accept it, else reject it with a reject reason
   of "AddressInUse".  If the clients match, accept the update.

   The lease update may be accepted or rejected.  If a lease is rejected
   with "OutdatedBindingInformation", then the flag in the lease that
   indicates the partner should be updated about the information in this
   lease SHOULD be set, otherwise it SHOULD NOT be changed.  If this
   flag was previously not set, then an update MAY be transmitted
   immediately to the partner (though the BNDREPLY to this BNDUPD SHOULD
   be sent first).  If this flag was previously set an update SHOULD NOT
   be transmitted immediately to the partner.  In this case, an update
   will be sent during the next periodic scan, but not immediately, thus
   preventing a possible update storm should the servers be unable to
   agree.  Ultimately, the server with the most recent binding
   information should have its update accepted by its partner.





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7.5.5.  Accepting Updates

   When the information in an OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option or
   OPTION_IAPREFIX option has been accepted, some of that information is
   stored in the receiving server's binding database, and corresponding
   a OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option or OPTION_IAPREFIX option is entered into
   a BNDREPLY.  The information to enter into the OPTION_CLIENT_DATA
   option or OPTION_IAPREFIX option in the BNDREPLY is described in
   Section 7.6.

   The information contained in an accepted OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option is
   stored in the receiving server's binding database as follows:

   1.  The OPTION_CLIENTID is used to find the client.

   2.  The other data contained in the top level of the
       OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option is stored with the client as
       appropriate.

   3.  For each of the OPTION_IA_NA, OPTION_IA_TA, or OPTION_IA_PD
       option in the OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option and for each of the
       OPTION_IAADDR or OPTION_IAPREFIX options in the IA_* options:

       1.  OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS is stored as the binding-status

       2.  OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME is stored in the expiration-time

       3.  OPTION_F_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME is stored in the state-
           expiration-time

       4.  OPTION_F_CLT_TIME (which MUST NOT be converted with the
           corrected-base-time, but MUST be converted with the raw value
           from the OPTION_LQ_BASE_TIME) is stored in the partner-raw-
           clt-time

       5.  OPTION_F_PARTNER_RAW_CLT_TIME (which MUST NOT be corrected
           with the time-correction) replaces the client-last-
           transaction-time if it is later than the current client-last-
           transaction-time.

       6.  OPTION_F_EXPIRATION_TIME replaces the partner-lifetime if it
           is later than the current partner-lifetime.

   The information contained in an accepted top level OPTION_IAPREFIX
   option is stored in the receiving server's binding database as
   follows:

   1.  The IPv6 Prefix is used to find the prefix.



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   2.  Inside of the IAprefix-options section:

       1.  OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS is stored as the binding-status

       2.  OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME (if any) is stored in the
           expiration-time

       3.  OPTION_F_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME (if any) is stored in the
           state-expiration-time

       4.  OPTION_F_EXPIRATION_TIME (if any) replaces the partner-
           lifetime if it is later than the current partner-lifetime.

7.6.  Sending Binding Replies

   A server MUST respond to every BNDUPD message with a BNDREPLY
   message.  The BNDREPLY message MUST contain an OPTION_CLIENT_DATA
   option if the BNDUPD message contained an OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option,
   or it MUST contain an OPTION_IAPREFIX option if the BNDUPD message
   contained an OPTION_IAPREFIX option.  The BNDREPLY message MUST have
   the same transaction-id as the BNDUPD message to which it is a
   response.

   Acceptance or rejection of all or a particular part of the BNDUPD
   message is signaled with a OPTION_STATUS_CODE option.  An
   OPTION_STATUS_CODE option containing a status-code representing an
   error is significant, while an OPTION_STATUS_CODE option whose
   status-code contains success is considered informational but does not
   affect the processing of the BNDREPLY message when it is received by
   the server that sent the BNDUPD message.

   Rejection of all or part of the information in a BNDUPD message is
   signaled in a BNDREPLY message by use of the OPTION_STATUS_CODE
   message with an error in the status-code field.  This rejection can
   take place at either of two levels -- the top level of the option
   hierarchy, or the bottom level of the option hierarchy:

      Entire BNDUPD: The OPTION_STATUS_CODE containing an error is
      present in the outermost option of the BNDREPLY -- either the
      single OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option or the single OPTION_IAPREFIX
      option.  An example of this sort of error might be that a VSS
      option was present and specified a VPN that might not exist in the
      receiving server.

      Single address or prefix: The OPTION_STATUS_CODE containing an
      error is present in a single IAADDR or IAPREFIX option which is
      itself contained in an OPTION_IA_NA, OPTION_IA_TA, or OPTION_IA_PD
      option.  An example of this sort of error might be that a



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      particular IPv6 address was specified in an IAADDR option that
      doesn't appear in the receiving server's configuration.

   Rejection present at either of these levels indicates rejection of
   all of the information contained in the option (including any other
   options contained in that option) where the OPTION_STATUS_CODE option
   containing an error appears.  The converse is not true -- an
   OPTION_STATUS_CODE option containing success does not signify that
   all of the contained information has been accepted.

   If the BNDREPLY message contains an OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option, then
   the OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option MUST contain at least the data shown
   below in its client-options section:

   o  OPTION_CLIENTID containing the DUID of the client most recently
      associated with this IPv6 address*;

   o  OPTION_VSS from the BNDUPD, if any.

   o  OPTION_IA_NA or OPTION_IA_TA for an IPv6 Address or OPTION_IA_PD
      for an IPv6 Prefix.  More than one of either of these options MAY
      appear if there are more than one associated with this client;

      *  Inside of the IA_NA-options, IA_TA-options, or IA_PD-option
         sections:

         +  OPTION_IAADDR for an IPv6 address or an OPTION_IAPREFIX for
            a IPv6 prefix;

            -  IPv6 Address or IPv6 Prefix (with length);

            -  Inside of the IAaddr-options or IAprefix-options:

               o  OPTION_STATUS_CODE containing an error code, or
                  containing a success code if a message is required.
                  An OPTION_STATUS_CODE option SHOULD NOT appear with a
                  success code unless a message associated with the
                  success code needs to be included.  The lack of an
                  OPTION_STATUS_CODE option is an indication of success.

               o  OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS containing the binding-status
                  received in the BNDUPD;

               o  OPTION_F_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME (absolute) containing
                  the state-expiration-time received in the BNDUPD;






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               o  OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME_SENT (absolute) containing a
                  duplicate of the OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME received in
                  the BNDUPD;

   If the BNDREPLY message contains a top level OPTION_IAPREFIX option,
   then the OPTION_IAPREFIX option MUST contain at least the data shown
   below:

   o  IPv6 Prefix (with length);

   o  IAprefix-options:

      *  OPTION_VSS from the BNDUPD, if any.

      *  OPTION_STATUS_CODE containing an error code, or containing a
         success code if a message is required.  If the information in
         the corresponding OPTION_IAPREFIX in the BNDUPD was accepted,
         and no status message was required (which is the usual case),
         no OPTION_STATUS_CODE option appears.

      *  OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS containing the binding-status received
         in the BNDREPLY;

      *  OPTION_F_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME (absolute) containing the state-
         expiration-time received in the BNDREPLY;

      *  OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME_SENT (absolute) containing a
         duplicate of the OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME received in the
         BNDREPLY;

7.7.  Receiving Binding Acks

   When a BNDREPLY is received the overall OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option or
   the overall OPTION_IAPREFIX option may contain an OPTION_STATUS_CODE
   containing an error, representing a rejection of the entire BNDUPD.
   An enclosed OPTION_IA_NA, OPTION_IA_TA, or OPTION_IA_PD option may
   also contain an OPTION_STATUS_CODE containing an error which
   indicates that everything in containing option has been rejected.  Or
   an individual IAADDR or IAPREFIX option may contain an
   OPTION_STATUS_CODE option containing an error, indicating that the
   IAADDR or IAPREFIX option has been rejected.  An OPTION_STATUS_CODE
   containing a success code has no bearing on the acceptance status of
   the BNDREPLY at any level.

   Receipt of a rejection (or a part of a BNDREPLY that has been
   rejected) requires no processing other than remembering that it has
   been encountered.




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   The information contained in the BNDREPLY in an OPTION_CLIENT_DATA
   that represents an acceptance is stored with the appropriate client
   and lease, as follows:

   1.  The OPTION_CLIENTID is used to find the client.

   2.  For each of the OPTION_IA_NA, OPTION_IA_TA, or OPTION_IA_PD
       option in the OPTION_CLIENT_DATA option and for each of the
       OPTION_IAADDR or OPTION_IAPREFIX options they contain:

       1.  OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME_SENT is stored in the acked-
           partner-lifetime

       2.  The time partner-lifetime is set to 0, to indicate that
           nothing additional needs to be sent to the partner.

   Alternatively, the BNDREPLY may contain a top level OPTION_IAPREFIX
   option, representing information concerning a single prefix lease.
   If the IAprefix-options section of the OPTION_IAPREFIX option
   contains an OPTION_STATUS_CODE representing an error, then it is
   considered a rejection of the corresponding BNDUPD message.  If the
   OPTION_IAPREFIX option does not contain an OPTION_STATUS_CODE option
   or if the OPTION_STATUS_CODE option contains a success status, then
   the three items in the following list are stored in the lease state
   database, in the section associated with the prefix lease represented
   by the OPTION_IAPREFIX option.

   1.  OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS containing the binding-status received in
       the BNDREPLY;

   2.  OPTION_F_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME (absolute) containing the state-
       expiration-time received in the BNDREPLY;

   3.  OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME_SENT (absolute) containing a duplicate
       of the OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME received in the BNDREPLY;

7.8.  BNDUPD/BNDREPLY Data Flow

   The following diagram shows the relationship of the times described
   in Section 7.3 with the options used to transmit them.  It also
   relates the times on one failover partner to the other failover
   partner.









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   ----------------------- BNDUPD ------------------------------

     Source on            OPTION_F in            Storage on
    Sending Server  ->   BNDUPD message   ->   Receiving Server


                                     [ always update ]

   partner-lifetime      PARTNER_LIFETIME      expiration-time

   client-last-transaction-time  CLT_TIME      (uncorrected)
                                               partner-raw-clt-time
   start-time-of-state   START_TIME_OF_STATE   start-time-of-state
   state-expiration-time STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME state-expiration-time

                              [update only if received > current]

   expiration-time       EXPIRATION_TIME       partner-lifetime
   partner-raw-clt-time  PARTNER_RAW_CLT_TIME
                                          client-last-transaction-time

   ----------------------- BNDREPLY ------------------------------

     Storage on            OPTION_F in           Storage on
    Receiving Server <-   BNDUPD message   <-   Sending Server

           [ always update ]

   acked-partner-lifetime PARTNER_LIFETIME_SENT duplicate of received
                                                  PARTNER_LIFETIME
   (nothing to update)    STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME state-expiration-time

   -------------------------------------------------------------


                Figure 5: BNDUPD and BNDREPLY Time Handling

8.  Endpoint States

8.1.  State Machine Operation

   Each server (or, more accurately, failover endpoint) can take on a
   variety of failover states.  These states play a crucial role in
   determining the actions that a server will perform when processing a
   request from a DHCP client as well as dealing with changing external
   conditions (e.g., loss of connection to a failover partner).





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   The failover state in which a server is running controls the
   following behaviors:

   o  Responsiveness -- the server is either responsive to DHCP client
      requests, it is renew responsive, or it is unresponsive.

   o  Allocation Pool -- which pool of addresses (or prefixes) can be
      used for advertisement on receipt of a SOLICIT or allocation on
      receipt of a REQUEST, RENEW or REBIND message.

   o  MCLT -- ensure that valid lifetimes are not beyond what the
      partner has acked plus the MCLT (or not).

   A server will transition from one failover state to another based on
   the specific values held by the following state variables:

   o  Current failover state.

   o  Communications status (OK or not OK).

   o  Partner's failover state (if known).

   Whenever any of the above state variables change state, the state
   machine is invoked, which may then trigger a change in the current
   failover state.  Thus, whenever the communications status changes,
   the state machine processing is invoked.  This may or may not result
   in a change in the current failover state.

   Whenever a server transitions to a new failover state, the new state
   MUST be communicated to its failover partner in a STATE message if
   the communications status is OK.  In addition, whenever a server
   makes a transition into a new state, it MUST record the new state,
   its current understanding of its partner's state, and the time at
   which it entered the new state in stable storage.

   The following state transition diagram gives a condensed view of the
   state machine.  If there is a difference between the words describing
   a particular state and the diagram below, the words should be
   considered authoritative.

   In the diagram below, the word (responsive) (r-responsive) or
   (unresponsive) appears in the states, and refers to whether the
   server in this state is allowed to responsive, renew responsive, or
   unresponsive respectively.

   In the state transition diagram below, the "+", "-", or "*" in the
   upper right corner of each state is a notation about whether
   communication is ongoing with the other server, with "+" meaning that



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   communications are ok, "-" meaning communications are interrupted,
   and "*" meaning that communications may be ok or interrupted.

















































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       +---------------+  V  +--------------+
       |    RECOVER  * |  |  |   STARTUP  - |
       |(unresponsive) |  +->+(unresponsive)|
       +------+--------+     +--------------+
       +-Comm. OK             +-----------------+
       |     Other State:     |  PARTNER DOWN - +<---------------------+
       |    RESOLUTION-INTER. | (responsive)    |                      ^
      All     POTENTIAL-      +----+------------+                      |
     Others   CONFLICT------------ | --------+                         |
       |      CONFLICT-DONE     Comm. OK     |     +--------------+    |
    UPDREQ or                 Other State:   |  +--+ RESOLUTION - |    |
    UPDREQALL                  |       |     |  |  | INTERRUPTED  |    |
    Rcv UPDDONE             RECOVER    All   |  |  | (responsive) |    |
       |  +---------------+    |      Others |  |  +------+-----+-+    |
       +->+RECOVER-WAIT * | RECOVER    |     |  |         ^     |      |
          |(unresponsive) |  WAIT or   |     |  Comm.     |    Ext.    |
          +-----------+---+  DONE      |     |  OK     Comm.   Cmd---->+
   Comm.---+     Wait MCLT     |       V     V  V     Failed           |
   Changed |          V    +---+   +---+-----+--+-+       |            |
    |  +---+----------++   |       |  POTENTIAL + +-------+            |
    |  |RECOVER-DONE * |  Wait     |  CONFLICT    +------+             |
    +->+(unresponsive) |  for      |(unresponsive)|   Primary          |
       +------+--------+  Other  +>+----+--------++   resolve    Comm. |
        Comm. OK          State: |      |        ^    conflict  Changed|
   +---Other State:-+   RECOVER  |   Secondary   |       V       V   | |
   |    |           |     DONE   |    resolve    |  +----+-------+--++ |
   | All Others:  POTENT.  |     |   conflict    |  |CONFLICT-DONE * |
   | Wait for    CONFLICT--|-----+      |        |  | (responsive)   | |
   | Other State:          V            V        |  +-------+--------+ |
   | NORMAL or RECOVER    ++------------+---+    | Other State: NORMAL |
   |    |       DONE      |     NORMAL    + +<--------------+          |
   |    +--+----------+-->+ pri: responsive +-------External Command-->+
   |       ^          ^   |sec: r-responsive|                          |
   |       |          |   +--------+--------+                          |
   |       |          |            |             |                     |
   |   Wait for   Comm. OK  Comm. Failed         |             External
   |    Other      Other           |             |             Command
   |    State:     State:     Start Auto         |                or
   | RECOVER-DONE  NORMAL    Partner Down     Comm. OK           Auto
   |       |     COMM. INT.      Timer       Other State:       Partner
   |    Comm. OK.     |            V          All Others         Down
   |   Other State:   |  +---------+--------+    |            expiration
   |     RECOVER      +--+ COMMUNICATIONS - +----+                     |
   |       +-------------+   INTERRUPTED    |                          |
   RECOVER               |  (responsive)    +------------------------->+
   RECOVER-WAIT--------->+------------------+

                 Figure 6: Failover Endpoint State Machine



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8.2.  State Machine Initialization

   The state machine is characterized by storage (in stable storage) of
   at least the following information:

   o  Current failover state.

   o  Previous failover state.

   o  Start time of current failover state.

   o  Partner's failover state.

   o  Start time of partner's failover state.

   o  Time most recent message received from partner.

   The state machine is initialized by reading these data items from
   stable storage and restoring their values from the information saved.
   If there is no information in stable storage concerning these items,
   then they should be initialized as follows:

   o  Current failover state: Primary: PARTNER-DOWN, Secondary: RECOVER

   o  Previous failover state: None.

   o  Start time of current failover state: Current time.

   o  Partner's failover state: None until reception of STATE message.

   o  Start time of partner's failover state: None until reception of
      STATE message.

   o  Time most recent message received from partner: None until message
      received.

8.3.  STARTUP State

   The STARTUP state affords an opportunity for a server to probe its
   partner server, before starting to service DHCP clients.  When in the
   STARTUP state, a server attempts to learn its partner's state and
   determine (using that information if it is available) what state it
   should enter.

   The STARTUP state is not shown with any specific state transitions in
   the state machine diagram (Figure 6) because the processing during
   the STARTUP state can cause the server to transition to any of the




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   other states, so that specific state transition arcs would only
   obscure other information.

8.3.1.  Operation in STARTUP State

   The server MUST NOT be responsive to DHCP clients in STARTUP state.

   Whenever a STATE message is sent to the partner while in STARTUP
   state the STARTUP flag MUST be set in the message and the previously
   recorded failover state MUST be placed in the server-state option.

8.3.2.  Transition Out of STARTUP State

   The following algorithm is followed every time the server initializes
   itself, and enters STARTUP state.

   The variables PREVIOUS-STATE and CURRENT-STATE are defined for use in
   the algorithm description below.  PREVIOUS-STATE is simply for
   storage of a state, while CURRENT-STATE not only stores the current
   state but also changes the current state of the failover endpoint to
   whatever state is set into the CURRENT-STATE.

   Step 1:

   If there is any record in stable storage of a previous failover state
   for this server, set PREVIOUS-STATE to the last recorded value in
   stable storage, and go to Step 2.

   If there is no record of any previous failover state in stable
   storage for this server, then set the PREVIOUS-STATE to RECOVER and
   set the TIME-OF-FAILURE to 0.  This will allow two servers which
   already have lease information to synchronize themselves prior to
   operating.

   In some cases, an existing server will be commissioned as a failover
   server and brought back into operation where its partner is not yet
   available.  In this case, the newly commissioned failover server will
   not operate until its partner comes online -- but it has operational
   responsibilities as a DHCP server nonetheless.  To properly handle
   this situation, a server SHOULD be configurable in such a way as to
   move directly into PARTNER-DOWN state after the startup period
   expires if it has been unable to contact its partner during the
   startup period.

   Step 2:

   Implementations will differ in the ways that they deal with the state
   machine for failover endpoint states.  In many cases, state



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   transitions will occur when communications goes from "OK" to failed,
   or from failed to "OK", and some implementations will implement a
   portion of their state machine processing based on these changes.

   In these cases, during startup, if the PREVIOUS-STATE is one where
   communications was "OK", then set the PREVIOUS-STATE to the state
   that is the result of the communications failed state transition when
   in that state (if such transition exists -- some states don't have a
   communication failed state transition, since they allow both
   communications OK and failed).

   Step 3:

   Start the STARTUP state timer.  The time that a server remains in the
   STARTUP state (absent any communications with its partner) is
   implementation dependent but SHOULD be short.  It SHOULD be long
   enough for a TCP connection to be created to a heavily loaded partner
   across a slow network.

   Step 4:

   If the server is a primary server: attempt to create a TCP connection
   to the failover partner.  If the server is a secondary server, listen
   on the failover port and wait for the primary server to connect.  See
   Section 6.1.

   Step 5:

   Wait for "communications OK".

   When and if communications become "OK", clear the STARTUP flag, and
   set the CURRENT-STATE to the PREVIOUS-STATE.

   If the partner is in PARTNER-DOWN state, and if the time at which it
   entered PARTNER-DOWN state (as received in the start-time-of-state
   option in the STATE message) is later than the last recorded time of
   operation of this server, then set CURRENT-STATE to RECOVER.  If the
   time at which it entered PARTNER-DOWN state is earlier than the last
   recorded time of operation of this server, then set CURRENT-STATE to
   POTENTIAL-CONFLICT.

   Then, transition to the CURRENT-STATE and take the "communications
   OK" state transition based on the CURRENT-STATE of this server and
   the partner.

   Step 6:





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   If the startup time expires prior to communications becoming "OK",
   the server SHOULD transition to the PREVIOUS-STATE.

8.4.  PARTNER-DOWN State

   PARTNER-DOWN state is a state either server can enter.  When in this
   state, the server assumes that it is the only server operating and
   serving the client base.  If one server is in PARTNER-DOWN state, the
   other server MUST NOT be operating.

   A server can enter PARTNER-DOWN state either as a result of operator
   intervention (when an operator determines that the server's partner
   is, indeed, down), or as a result of an optional auto-partner-down
   capability where PARTNER-DOWN state is entered automatically after a
   server has been in COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state for a pre-
   determined period of time.

8.4.1.  Operation in PARTNER-DOWN State

   The server MUST be responsive in PARTNER-DOWN state, regardless if it
   is primary or secondary.

   It will allow renewal of all outstanding leases.

   For delegable prefixes it will allocate leases from its own pool, and
   after a fixed period of time (the MCLT interval) has elapsed from
   entry into PARTNER-DOWN state, it may allocate delegable prefixes
   from the set of all available pools.  Server MUST fully deplete its
   own pool, before starting allocations from its downed partner's pool.

   IPv6 addresses available for independent allocation by the other
   server (at entry to PARTNER-DOWN state) SHOULD NOT be allocated to a
   client.  If one elects to do so anyway, they MUST NOT be allocated to
   a new client until the MCLT beyond the entry into PARTNER-DOWN state
   has elapsed.

   A server in PARTNER-DOWN state MUST NOT allocate a lease to a DHCP
   client different from that to which it was allocated at the entrance
   to PARTNER-DOWN state until the MCLT beyond the maximum of the
   following times: client expiration time, most recently transmitted
   partner-lifetime, most recently received ack of the partner-time from
   the partner, and most recently acked partner-lifetime to the partner.
   If this time would be earlier than the current time plus the MCLT,
   then the time the server entered PARTNER-DOWN state plus the MCLT is
   used.

   The server is not restricted by the MCLT when offering valid
   lifetimes while in PARTNER-DOWN state.



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   In the unlikely case when there are two servers operating in a
   PARTNER-DOWN state, there is a chance of duplicate leases for the
   same prefix to be assigned.  This leads to a POTENTIAL-CONFLICT
   (unresponsive) state when they re-establish contact.  The duplicate
   lease issue can be postponed to a large extent by the server granting
   new leases first from its own pool.  Therefore the server operating
   in PARTNER-DOWN state MUST use its own pool first for new leases
   before assigning any leases from its downed partner pool.

8.4.2.  Transition Out of PARTNER-DOWN State

   When a server in PARTNER-DOWN state succeeds in establishing a
   connection to its partner, its actions are conditional on the state
   and flags received in the STATE message from the other server as part
   of the process of establishing the connection.

   If the STARTUP bit is set in the server-flags option of a received
   STATE message, a server in PARTNER-DOWN state MUST NOT take any state
   transitions based on reestablishing communications.  If a server is
   in PARTNER-DOWN state, it ignores all STATE messages from its partner
   that have the STARTUP bit set in the server-flags option of the STATE
   message.

   If the STARTUP bit is not set in the server-flags option of a STATE
   message received from its partner, then a server in PARTNER-DOWN
   state takes the following actions based on the state of the partner
   as received in a STATE message (either immediately after establishing
   communications or at any time later when a new state is received)

   o  If the partner is in: [ NORMAL, COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED,
      PARTNER-DOWN, POTENTIAL-CONFLICT, RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED, or
      CONFLICT-DONE ] state, then transition to POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state

   o  If the partner is in: [ RECOVER, RECOVER-WAIT ] state stay in
      PARTNER-DOWN state

   o  If the partner is in: [ RECOVER-DONE ] state transition into
      NORMAL state

8.5.  RECOVER State

   This state indicates that the server has no information in its stable
   storage or that it is re-integrating with a server in PARTNER-DOWN
   state after it has been down.  A server in this state MUST attempt to
   refresh its stable storage from the other server.






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8.5.1.  Operation in RECOVER State

   The server MUST NOT be responsive in RECOVER state.

   A server in RECOVER state will attempt to reestablish communications
   with the other server.

8.5.2.  Transition Out of RECOVER State

   If the other server is in POTENTIAL-CONFLICT, RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED,
   or CONFLICT-DONE state when communications are reestablished, then
   the server in RECOVER state will move to POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state
   itself.

   If the other server is in any other state, then the server in RECOVER
   state will request an update of missing binding information by
   sending an UPDREQ message.  If the server has determined that it has
   lost its stable storage because it has no record of ever having
   talked to its partner, while its partner does have a record of
   communicating with it, it MUST send an UPDREQALL message, otherwise
   it MUST send an UPDREQ message.

   It will wait for an UPDDONE message, and upon receipt of that message
   it will transition to RECOVER-WAIT state.

   If communication fails during the reception of the results of the
   UPDREQ or UPDREQALL message, the server will remain in RECOVER state,
   and will re-issue the UPDREQ or UPDREQALL when communications are re-
   established.

   If an UPDDONE message isn't received within an implementation
   dependent amount of time, and no BNDUPD messages are being received,
   the connection SHOULD be dropped.


















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                   A                                        B
                 Server                                  Server

                   |                                        |
                RECOVER                               PARTNER-DOWN
                   |                                        |
                   | >--UPDREQ-------------------->         |
                   |                                        |
                   |        <---------------------BNDUPD--< |
                   | >--BNDREPLY------------------>         |
                  ...                                      ...
                   |                                        |
                   |        <---------------------BNDUPD--< |
                   | >--BNDREPLY------------------>         |
                   |                                        |
                   |        <--------------------UPDDONE--< |
                   |                                        |
              RECOVER-WAIT                                  |
                   |                                        |
                   | >--STATE-(RECOVER-WAIT)------>         |
                   |                                        |
                   |                                        |
          Wait MCLT from last known                         |
             time of failover operation                     |
                   |                                        |
              RECOVER-DONE                                  |
                   |                                        |
                   | >--STATE-(RECOVER-DONE)------>         |
                   |                                     NORMAL
                   |        <-------------(NORMAL)-STATE--< |
                NORMAL                                      |
                   | >---- State-(NORMAL)--------------->   |
                   |                                        |
                   |                                        |

                 Figure 7: Transition out of RECOVER state

   If at any time while a server is in RECOVER state communication
   fails, the server will stay in RECOVER state.  When communications
   are restored, it will restart the process of transitioning out of
   RECOVER state.

8.6.  RECOVER-WAIT State

   This state indicates that the server has sent an UPDREQ or UPDREQALL
   and has received the UPDDONE message indicating that it has received
   all outstanding binding update information.  In the RECOVER-WAIT
   state the server will wait for the MCLT in order to ensure that any



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   processing that this server might have done prior to losing its
   stable storage will not cause future difficulties.

8.6.1.  Operation in RECOVER-WAIT State

   The server MUST NOT be responsive in RECOVER-WAIT state.

8.6.2.  Transition Out of RECOVER-WAIT State

   Upon entry to RECOVER-WAIT state the server MUST start a timer whose
   expiration is set to a time equal to the time the server went down
   (if known) or the time the server started (if the down-time is
   unknown) plus the maximum-client-lead-time.  When this timer expires,
   the server will transition into RECOVER-DONE state.

   This is to allow any IPv6 addresses or prefixes that were allocated
   by this server prior to loss of its client binding information in
   stable storage to contact the other server or to time out.

   If the server has never before run failover, then there is no need to
   wait in this state and the server MAY transition immediately to
   RECOVER_DONE state.  However, to determine if this server has run
   failover it is vital that the information provided by the partner be
   utilized, since the stable storage of this server may have been lost.

   If communication fails while a server is in RECOVER-WAIT state, it
   has no effect on the operation of this state.  The server SHOULD
   continue to operate its timer, and if the timer expires during the
   period where communications with the other server have failed, then
   the server SHOULD transition to RECOVER-DONE state.  This is rare --
   failover state transitions are not usually made while communications
   are interrupted, but in this case there is no reason to inhibit this
   transition.

8.7.  RECOVER-DONE State

   This state exists to allow an interlocked transition for one server
   from RECOVER state and another server from PARTNER-DOWN or
   COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state into NORMAL state.

8.7.1.  Operation in RECOVER-DONE State

   A server in RECOVER-DONE state SHOULD be renew responsive, and MAY
   respond to RENEW requests but MUST only change the state of a lease
   that appears in the RENEW request.  It MUST NOT allocate any
   additional leases when in RECOVER-DONE state and should only respond
   only to RENEW requests where it already has a record of the lease.




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8.7.2.  Transition Out of RECOVER-DONE State

   When a server in RECOVER-DONE state determines that its partner
   server has entered NORMAL or RECOVER-DONE state, then it will
   transition into NORMAL state.

   If the partner server enters RECOVER or RECOVER-WAIT state, this
   server transitions to COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED.

   If the partner server enters POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state then this
   server enters POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state as well.

   If communication fails while in RECOVER-DONE state, a server will
   stay in RECOVER-DONE state.

8.8.  NORMAL State

   NORMAL state is the state used by a server when it is communicating
   with the other server, and any required resynchronization has been
   performed.  While some binding database synchronization is performed
   in NORMAL state, potential conflicts are resolved prior to entry into
   NORMAL state as is binding database data loss.

   When entering NORMAL state, a server will send to the other server
   all currently unacknowledged binding updates as BNDUPD messages.

   When the above process is complete, if the server entering NORMAL
   state is a secondary server, then it will request delegable prefixes
   for allocation using the POOLREQ message.

8.8.1.  Operation in NORMAL State

   The primary server is responsive in NORMAL state.  The secondary is
   renew responsive in NORMAL state.

   When in NORMAL state a primary server will operate in the following
   manner:

   Valid lifetime calculations
      As discussed in Section 4.4, the lease interval given to a DHCP
      client can never be more than the MCLT greater than the most
      recently acknowledged partner lifetime received from the failover
      partner or the current time, whichever is later.

      As long as a server adheres to this constraint, the specifics of
      the lease interval that it gives to a DHCP client or the value of
      the partner lifetime sent to its failover partner are
      implementation dependent.



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   Lazy update of partner server
      After sending a REPLY that includes a lease update to a client,
      the server servicing a DHCP client request attempts to update its
      partner with the new binding information.  See Section 4.3.

   Reallocation of leases between clients
      Whenever a client binding is released or expires, a BNDUPD message
      must be sent to the partner, setting the binding state to RELEASED
      or EXPIRED.  However, until a BNDREPLY is received for this
      message, the lease cannot be allocated to another client.  It
      cannot be allocated to the same client again if a BNDUPD was sent,
      otherwise it can.  See Section 4.2.2.1 for details.

   In NORMAL state, each server receives binding updates from its
   partner server in BNDUPD messages (see Section 7.5.5).  It records
   these in its binding database in stable storage and then sends a
   corresponding BNDREPLY message to its partner server (see
   Section 7.6).

8.8.2.  Transition Out of NORMAL State

   If an external command is received by a server in NORMAL state
   informing it that its partner is down, then transition into PARTNER-
   DOWN state.  Generally, this would be an unusual situation, where
   some external agency knew the partner server was down prior to the
   failover server discovering it on its own.

   If a server in NORMAL state fails to receive acks to messages sent to
   its partner for an implementation dependent period of time, it MAY
   move into COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state.  This situation might
   occur if the partner server was capable of maintaining the TCP
   connection between the server and also capable of sending a CONTACT
   message periodically, but was (for some reason) incapable of
   processing BNDUPD messages.

   If the communications is determined to not be "ok" (as defined in
   Section 6.6), then transition into COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state.

   If a server in NORMAL state receives any messages from its partner
   where the partner has changed state from that expected by the server
   in NORMAL state, then the server should transition into
   COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state and take the appropriate state
   transition from there.  For example, it would be expected for the
   partner to transition from POTENTIAL-CONFLICT into NORMAL state, but
   not for the partner to transition from NORMAL into POTENTIAL-CONFLICT
   state.





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   If a server in NORMAL state receives a DISCONNECT message from its
   partner, the server should transition into COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED
   state.

8.9.  COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED State

   A server goes into COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state whenever it is
   unable to communicate with its partner.  Primary and secondary
   servers cycle automatically (without administrative intervention)
   between NORMAL and COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state as the network
   connection between them fails and recovers, or as the partner server
   cycles between operational and non-operational.  No duplicate lease
   allocation can occur while the servers cycle between these states.

   When a server enters COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state, if it has been
   configured to support an automatic transition out of COMMUNICATIONS-
   INTERRUPTED state and into PARTNER-DOWN state (i.e., auto-partner-
   down has been configured), then a timer is started for the length of
   the configured auto-partner-down period.

   A server transitioning into the COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state from
   the NORMAL state SHOULD raise some alarm condition to alert
   administrative staff to a potential problem in the DHCP subsystem.

8.9.1.  Operation in COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED State

   In this state a server MUST respond to all DHCP client requests.
   When allocating new leases, each server allocates from its own pool,
   where the primary MUST allocate only FREE delegable prefixes, and the
   secondary MUST allocate only FREE-BACKUP delegable prefixes, and each
   server allocates from its own independent IPv6 address ranges.  When
   responding to RENEW messages, each server will allow continued
   renewal of a DHCP client's current lease regardless of whether that
   lease was given out by the receiving server or not, although the
   renewal period MUST NOT exceed the MCLT beyond the latest of: 1) the
   partner lifetime already acknowledged by the other server, or 2) now,
   or 3) the partner lifetime received from the partner server.

   However, since the server cannot communicate with its partner in this
   state, the acknowledged partner lifetime will not be updated despite
   continued RENEW message processing.  This is likely to eventually
   cause the actual lifetimes to converge to the MCLT (unless this is
   greater than the desired lease time, which would be unusual).

   The server should continue to try to establish a connection with its
   partner.





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8.9.2.  Transition Out of COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED State

   If the auto-partner-down timer expires while a server is in the
   COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state, it will transition immediately into
   PARTNER-DOWN state.

   If an external command is received by a server in COMMUNICATIONS-
   INTERRUPTED state informing it that its partner is down, it will
   transition immediately into PARTNER-DOWN state.

   If communications is restored with the other server, then the server
   in COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state will transition into another
   state based on the state of the partner:

   o  NORMAL or COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED: Transition into the NORMAL
      state.

   o  RECOVER: Stay in COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state.

   o  RECOVER-DONE: Transition into NORMAL state.

   o  PARTNER-DOWN, POTENTIAL-CONFLICT, CONFLICT-DONE, or RESOLUTION-
      INTERRUPTED: Transition into POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state.

   The following figure illustrates the transition from NORMAL to
   COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED state and then back to NORMAL state again.

























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      Primary                                Secondary
       Server                                  Server

       NORMAL                                  NORMAL
         | >--CONTACT------------------->         |
         |        <--------------------CONTACT--< |
         |         [TCP connection broken]        |
    COMMUNICATIONS          :              COMMUNICATIONS
      INTERRUPTED           :                INTERRUPTED
         |      [attempt new TCP connection]      |
         |         [connection succeeds]          |
         |                                        |
         | >--CONNECT------------------->         |
         |        <---------------CONNECTREPLY--< |
         |                                     NORMAL
         |        <-------------------STATE-----< |
       NORMAL                                     |
         | >--STATE--------------------->         |
         |
         | >--BNDUPD-------------------->         |
         |        <-------------------BNDREPLY--< |
         |                                        |
         |        <---------------------BNDUPD--< |
         | >------BNDREPLY-------------->         |
        ...                                      ...
         |                                        |
         |        <--------------------POOLREQ--< |
         | >--POOLRESP------------------>         |
         |                                        |
         | >--BNDUPD-(#1)--------------->         |
         |        <-------------------BNDREPLY--< |
         |                                        |
         | >--BNDUPD-(#2)--------------->         |
         |        <-------------------BNDREPLY--< |
         |                                        |

    Figure 8: Transition from NORMAL to COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED and
                                   back

8.10.  POTENTIAL-CONFLICT State

   This state indicates that the two servers are attempting to
   reintegrate with each other, but at least one of them was running in
   a state that did not guarantee automatic reintegration would be
   possible.  In POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state the servers may determine that
   the same lease has been offered and accepted by two different
   clients.




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   It is a goal of the failover protocol to minimize the possibility
   that POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state is ever entered.

   When a primary server enters POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state it should
   request that the secondary send it all updates which the primary
   server has not yet acknowledged by sending an UPDREQ message to the
   secondary server.

   A secondary server entering POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state will wait for
   the primary to send it an UPDREQ message.

8.10.1.  Operation in POTENTIAL-CONFLICT State

   Any server in POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state MUST NOT process any incoming
   DHCP requests.

8.10.2.  Transition Out of POTENTIAL-CONFLICT State

   If communication fails with the partner while in POTENTIAL-CONFLICT
   state, then the server will transition to RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED
   state.

   Whenever either server receives an UPDDONE message from its partner
   while in POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state, it MUST transition to a new state.
   The primary MUST transition to CONFLICT-DONE state, and the secondary
   MUST transition to NORMAL state.  This will cause the primary server
   to leave POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state prior to the secondary, since the
   primary sends an UPDREQ message and receives an UPDDONE before the
   secondary sends an UPDREQ message and receives its UPDDONE message.

   When a secondary server receives an indication that the primary
   server has made a transition from POTENTIAL-CONFLICT to CONFLICT-DONE
   state, it SHOULD send an UPDREQ message to the primary server.


















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       Primary                                Secondary
       Server                                  Server

         |                                        |
   POTENTIAL-CONFLICT                    POTENTIAL-CONFLICT
         |                                        |
         | >--UPDREQ-------------------->         |
         |                                        |
         |        <---------------------BNDUPD--< |
         | >--BNDREPLY------------------>         |
        ...                                      ...
         |                                        |
         |        <---------------------BNDUPD--< |
         | >--BNDREPLY------------------>         |
         |                                        |
         |        <--------------------UPDDONE--< |
   CONFLICT-DONE                                  |
         | >--STATE--(CONFLICT-DONE)---->         |
         |        <---------------------UPDREQ--< |
         |                                        |
         | >--BNDUPD-------------------->         |
         |        <-------------------BNDREPLY--< |
        ...                                      ...
         | >--BNDUPD-------------------->         |
         |        <-------------------BNDREPLY--< |
         |                                        |
         | >--UPDDONE------------------->         |
         |                                     NORMAL
         |        <------------STATE--(NORMAL)--< |
      NORMAL                                      |
         | >--STATE--(NORMAL)----------->         |
         |                                        |
         |        <--------------------POOLREQ--< |
         | >------POOLRESP-------------->         |
         |                                        |

              Figure 9: Transition out of POTENTIAL-CONFLICT

8.11.  RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED State

   This state indicates that the two servers were attempting to
   reintegrate with each other in POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state, but
   communication failed prior to completion of re-integration.

   The RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED state exists because servers are not
   responsive in POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state, and if one server drops out
   of service while both servers are in POTENTIAL-CONFLICT state, the
   server that remains in service will not be able to process DHCP



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   client requests and there will be no DHCP server available to process
   client requests.  The RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED state is the state that
   a server moves to if its partner disappears while it is in POTENTIAL-
   CONFLICT state.

   When a server enters RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED state it SHOULD raise an
   alarm condition to alert administrative staff of a problem in the
   DHCP subsystem.

8.11.1.  Operation in RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED State

   In this state a server MUST respond to all DHCP client requests.
   When allocating new leases, each server SHOULD allocate from its own
   pool (if that can be determined), where the primary SHOULD allocate
   only FREE leases, and the secondary SHOULD allocate only FREE-BACKUP
   leases.  When responding to renewal requests, each server will allow
   continued renewal of a DHCP client's current lease independent of
   whether that lease was given out by the receiving server or not,
   although the renewal period MUST NOT exceed the maximum client lead
   time (MCLT) beyond the latest of: 1) the partner lifetime already
   acknowledged by the other server or 2) now or 3) partner lifetime
   received from the partner server.

   However, since the server cannot communicate with its partner in this
   state, the acknowledged partner lifetime will not be updated in any
   new bindings.

8.11.2.  Transition Out of RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED State

   If an external command is received by a server in RESOLUTION-
   INTERRUPTED state informing it that its partner is down, it will
   transition immediately into PARTNER-DOWN state.

   If communications is restored with the other server, then the server
   in RESOLUTION-INTERRUPTED state will transition into POTENTIAL-
   CONFLICT state.

8.12.  CONFLICT-DONE State

   This state indicates that during the process where the two servers
   are attempting to re-integrate with each other, the primary server
   has received all of the updates from the secondary server.  It makes
   a transition into CONFLICT-DONE state in order that it may be totally
   responsive to the client load.  There is no operational difference
   between CONFLICT-DONE and NORMAL for primary as in both states it
   responds to all clients' requests.  The distinction between CONFLICT-
   DONE and NORMAL states is necessary in the event that a load-
   balancing extension is ever defined.



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8.12.1.  Operation in CONFLICT-DONE State

   A primary server in CONFLICT-DONE state is fully responsive to all
   DHCP clients (similar to the situation in COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED
   state).

   If communication fails, remain in CONFLICT-DONE state.  If
   communications becomes OK, remain in CONFLICT-DONE state until the
   conditions for transition out become satisfied.

8.12.2.  Transition Out of CONFLICT-DONE State

   If communication fails with the partner while in CONFLICT-DONE state,
   then the server will remain in CONFLICT-DONE state.

   When a primary server determines that the secondary server has made a
   transition into NORMAL state, the primary server will also transition
   into NORMAL state.

9.  DNS Update Considerations

   DHCP servers (and clients) can use DNS Updates as described in RFC
   2136 [RFC2136] to maintain DNS name-mappings as they maintain DHCP
   leases.  Many different administrative models for DHCP-DNS
   integration are possible.  Descriptions of several of these models,
   and guidelines that DHCP servers and clients should follow in
   carrying them out, are laid out in RFC 4704 [RFC4704].

   The nature of the failover protocol introduces some issues concerning
   DNS updates that are not part of non-failover environments.  This
   section describes these issues, and defines the information which
   failover partners should exchange in order to ensure consistent
   behavior.  The presence of this section should not be interpreted as
   requiring an implementation of the DHCPv6 failover protocol to also
   support DNS updates.

   The purpose of this discussion is to clarify the areas where the
   failover and DHCP DNS update protocols intersect for the benefit of
   implementations which support both protocols, not to introduce a new
   requirement into the DHCPv6 failover protocol.  Thus, a DHCP server
   which implements the failover protocol MAY also support DNS updates,
   but if it does support DNS updates it SHOULD utilize the techniques
   described here in order to correctly distribute them between the
   failover partners.  See RFC 4704 [RFC4704] as well as RFC 4703
   [RFC4703] for information on how DHCP servers deal with potential
   conflicts when updating DNS even without failover.





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   From the standpoint of the failover protocol, there is no reason why
   a server which is utilizing the DNS update protocol to update a DNS
   server should not be a partner with a server which is not utilizing
   the DNS update protocol to update a DNS server.  However, a server
   which is not able to support DNS update or is not configured to
   support DNS update SHOULD output a warning message when it receives
   BNDUPD messages which indicate that its failover partner is
   configured to support the DNS update protocol to update a DNS server.
   An implementation MAY consider this an error and refuse to accept the
   BNDUPD by returning the status DNSUpdateNotSupported in an
   OPTION_STATUS_CODE option in the BNDREPLY message, or it MAY choose
   to operate anyway, having warned the administrator of the problem in
   some way.

9.1.  Relationship between failover and DNS update

   The failover protocol describes the conditions under which each
   failover server may renew a lease to its current DHCP client, and
   describes the conditions under which it may grant a lease to a new
   DHCP client.  An analogous set of conditions determines when a
   failover server should initiate a DNS update, and when it should
   attempt to remove records from the DNS.  The failover protocol's
   conditions are based on the desired external behavior: avoiding
   duplicate address and prefix assignments; allowing clients to
   continue using leases which they obtained from one failover partner
   even if they can only communicate with the other partner; allowing
   the secondary DHCP server to grant new leases even if it is unable to
   communicate with the primary server.  The desired external DNS update
   behavior for DHCPv6 failover servers is similar to that described
   above for the failover protocol itself:

   1.  Allow timely DNS updates from the server which grants a lease to
       a client.  Recognize that there is often a DNS update lifecycle
       which parallels the DHCP lease lifecycle.  This is likely to
       include the addition of records when the lease is granted, and
       the removal of DNS records when the lease is subsequently made
       available for allocation to a different client.

   2.  Communicate enough information between the two failover servers
       to allow one to complete the DNS update 'lifecycle' even if the
       other server originally granted the lease.

   3.  Avoid redundant or overlapping DNS updates, where both failover
       servers are attempting to perform DNS updates for the same lease-
       client binding.






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   4.  Avoid situations where one partner is attempting to add RRs
       related to a lease binding while the other partner is attempting
       to remove RRs related to the same lease binding.

   While DHCPv6 servers configured for DNS update typically perform
   these operations on both the AAAA and the PTR resource records, this
   is not required.  It is entirely possible that a DHCPv6 server could
   be configured to only update the DNS with PTR records, and the DHCPv6
   clients could be responsible for updating the DNS with their own AAAA
   records.  In this case, the discussions here would apply only to the
   PTR records.

9.2.  Exchanging DNS Update Information

   In order for either server to be able to complete a DNS update, or to
   remove DNS records which were added by its partner, both servers need
   to know the FQDN associated with the lease-client binding.  In
   addition, to properly handle DNS updates, additional information is
   required.  All of the following information needs to be transmitted
   between the failover partners:

   1.  The FQDN that the client requested be associated with the lease.
       If the client doesn't request a particular FQDN and one is
       synthesized by the failover server or if the failover server is
       configured to replace a client requested FQDN with a different
       FQDN, then the server generated value would be used.

   2.  The FQDN that was actually placed in the DNS for this lease.  It
       may differ from the client requested FQDN due to some form of
       disambiguation or other DHCP server configuration (as described
       above).

   3.  The status of and DNS update operations in progress or completed.

   4.  Information sufficient to allow the failover partner to remove
       the FQDN from the DNS should that become necessary.

   These data items are the minimum necessary set to reliably allow two
   failover partners to successfully share the responsibility to keep
   the DNS up to date with the leases allocated to clients.

   This information would typically be included in BNDUPD messages sent
   from one failover partner to the other.  Failover servers MAY choose
   not to include this information in BNDUPD messages if there has been
   no change in the status of any DNS update related to the lease.

   The partner server receiving BNDUPD messages containing the DNS
   update information SHOULD compare the status information and the FQDN



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   with the current DNS update information it has associated with the
   lease binding, and update its notion of the DNS update status
   accordingly.

   Some implementations will instead choose to send a BNDUPD without
   waiting for the DNS update to complete, and then will send a second
   BNDUPD once the DNS update is complete.  Other implementations will
   delay sending the partner a BNDUPD until the DNS update has been
   acknowledged by the DNS server, or until some time-limit has elapsed,
   in order to avoid sending a second BNDUPD.

   The FQDN option contains the FQDN that will be associated with the
   AAAA RR (if the server is performing an AAAA RR update for the
   client).  The PTR RR can be generated automatically from the IPv6
   address or prefix value.  The FQDN may be composed in any of several
   ways, depending on server configuration and the information provided
   by the client in its DHCP messages.  The client may supply a hostname
   which it would like the server to use in forming the FQDN, or it may
   supply the entire FQDN.  The server may be configured to attempt to
   use the information the client supplies, it may be configured with an
   FQDN to use for the client, or it may be configured to synthesize an
   FQDN.

   Since the server interacting with the client may not have completed
   the DNS update at the time it sends the first BNDUPD about the lease
   binding, there may be cases where the FQDN in later BNDUPD messages
   does not match the FQDN included in earlier messages.  For example,
   the responsive server may be configured to handle situations where
   two or more DHCP client FQDNs are identical by modifying the most-
   specific label in the FQDNs of some of the clients in an attempt to
   generate unique FQDNs for them (a process sometimes called
   "disambiguation").  Alternatively, at sites which use some or all of
   the information which clients supply to form the FQDN, it's possible
   that a client's configuration may be changed so that it begins to
   supply new data.  The server interacting with the client may react by
   removing the DNS records which it originally added for the client,
   and replacing them with records that refer to the client's new FQDN.
   In such cases, the server SHOULD include the actual FQDN that was
   used in subsequent DNS update options in any BNDUPD messages
   exchanged between the failover partners.  This server SHOULD include
   relevant information in its BNDUPD messages.  This information may be
   necessary in order to allow the non-responsive partner to detect
   client configuration changes that change the hostname or FQDN data
   which the client includes in its DHCPv6 requests.







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9.3.  Adding RRs to the DNS

   A failover server which is going to perform DNS updates SHOULD
   initiate the DNS update when it grants a new lease to a client.  The
   server which did not grant the lease SHOULD NOT initiate a DNS update
   when it receives the BNDUPD after the lease has been granted.  The
   failover protocol ensures that only one of the partners will grant a
   lease to any individual client, so it follows that this requirement
   will prevent both partners from initiating updates simultaneously.
   The server initiating the update SHOULD follow the protocol in RFC
   4704 [RFC4704].  The server may be configured to perform a AAAA RR
   update on behalf of its clients, or not.  Ordinarily, a failover
   server will not initiate DNS updates when it renews leases.  In two
   cases, however, a failover server MAY initiate a DNS update when it
   renews a lease to its existing client:

   1.  When the lease was granted before the server was configured to
       perform DNS updates, the server MAY be configured to perform
       updates when it next renews existing leases.

   2.  If a server is in PARTNER-DOWN state, it can conclude that its
       partner is no longer attempting to perform an update for the
       existing client.  If the remaining server has not recorded that
       an update for the binding has been successfully completed, the
       server MAY initiate a DNS update.  It MAY initiate this update
       immediately upon entry to PARTNER-DOWN state, it may perform this
       in the background, or it MAY initiate this update upon next
       hearing from the DHCP client.

   Note that, regardless of the use of failover, there is a use case for
   updating the DNS on every lease renewal.  If there is a concern that
   the information in the DNS does not match the information in the DHCP
   server, updating the DNS on lease renewal is one way to gradually
   ensure that the DNS has information that corresponds correctly the
   information in the DHCP server.

9.4.  Deleting RRs from the DNS

   The failover server which makes a lease PENDING-FREE SHOULD initiate
   any DNS deletes, if it has recorded that DNS records were added on
   behalf of the client.

   A server not in PARTNER-DOWN state "makes a lease PENDING-FREE" when
   it initiates a BNDUPD with a binding-status of FREE, FREE-BACKUP,
   EXPIRED, or RELEASED.  Its partner confirms this status by acking
   that BNDUPD, and upon receipt of the BNDREPLY the server has "made
   the lease PENDING-FREE".  Conversely, a server in PARTNER-DOWN state
   "makes a lease PENDING-FREE" when it sets the binding-status to FREE,



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   since in PARTNER-DOWN state no communications is required with the
   partner.

   It is at this point that it should initiate the DNS operations to
   delete RRs from the DNS.  Its partner SHOULD NOT initiate DNS deletes
   for DNS records related to the lease binding as part of sending the
   BNDREPLY message.  The partner MAY have issued BNDUPD messages with a
   binding-status of FREE, EXPIRED, or RELEASED previously, but the
   other server will have rejected these BNDUPD messages.

   The failover protocol ensures that only one of the two partner
   servers will be able to make a lease PENDING-FREE.  The server making
   the lease PENDING-FREE may be doing so while it is in NORMAL
   communication with its partner, or it may be in PARTNER-DOWN state.
   If a server is in PARTNER-DOWN state, it may be performing DNS
   deletes for RRs which its partner added originally.  This allows a
   single remaining partner server to assume responsibility for all of
   the DNS update activity which the two servers were undertaking.

   Another implication of this approach is that no DNS RR deletes will
   be performed while either server is in COMMUNICATIONS-INTERRUPTED
   state, since no leases are moved into the PENDING-FREE state during
   that period.

   A failover server SHOULD ensure that a server failure while making a
   lease PENDING-FREE and initiating a DNS delete does not somehow leave
   the lease with a RR in the DNS with nothing recorded in the lease
   state database to trigger a DNS delete.

9.5.  Name Assignment with No Update of DNS

   In some cases, a DHCP server is configured to return a name to the
   DHCP client but not enter that name into the DNS.  This is typically
   a name that it has discovered or generated from information it has
   received from the client.  In this case this name information SHOULD
   be communicated to the failover partner, if only to ensure that they
   will return the same name in the event the partner becomes the server
   to which the DHCP client begins to interact.

10.  Security Considerations

   DHCPv6 failover is an extension of a standard DHCPv6 protocol, so all
   security considerations from [RFC3315], Section 23 and [RFC3633],
   Section 15 related to the server apply.

   The use of TCP introduces some additional concerns.  Attacks that
   attempt to exhaust the DHCP server's available TCP connection
   resources can compromise the ability of legitimate partners to



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   receive service.  Malicious requestors who succeed in establishing
   connections but who then send invalid messages, partial messages, or
   no messages at all can also exhaust a server's pool of available
   connections.

   DHCPv6 failover can operate in secure or insecure mode.  Secure mode
   (using TLS) would be indicated when the TCP connection between
   failover partners is open to external monitoring or interception.
   Insecure mode should only be used when the TCP connection between
   failover partners remains within set of protected systems.  Details
   of such protections are beyond the scope of this document.  Failover
   servers MUST use the approach documented in Section 9.1 of [RFC7653]
   to decide to use or not to use TLS when connecting with the failover
   partner.

   The threats created by using failover directly mirror those from
   using DHCPv6 itself: information leakage through monitoring, and
   disruption of address assignment and configuration.  Monitoring the
   failover TCP connection provides no additional data beyond that
   available from monitoring the interactions between DHCPv6 clients and
   the DHCPv6 server.  Likewise, manipulating the data flow between
   failover servers provides no additional opportunities to disrupt
   address assignment and configuration beyond that provided by acting
   as a counterfeit DHCP server.  Protection from both threats is easier
   than with basic DHCPv6, as only a single TCP connection needs to be
   protected.  Either use secure mode to protect that TCP connection or
   ensure that it can only exist with a set of protected systems.

   When operating in secure mode, TLS [RFC5246] is used to secure the
   connection.  The recommendations in [RFC7525] SHOULD be followed when
   negotiating a TLS connection.

   Servers SHOULD offer configuration parameters to limit the sources of
   incoming connections through validation and use of the digital
   certificates presented to create a TLS connection.  They SHOULD also
   limit the number of accepted connections and limit the period of time
   during which an idle connection will be left open.

   Authentication for DHCPv6 messages [RFC3315] MUST NOT be used to
   attempt to secure transmission of the messages described in this
   document.  If authentication is desired, secure mode using TLS SHOULD
   be employed as described in Sections 8.2 and 9.1 of [RFC7653].

11.  IANA Considerations

   IANA is requested to assign values for the following new DHCPv6
   Message types in the registry maintained in
   http://www.iana.org/assignments/dhcpv6-parameters:



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   o  BNDUPD (TBD1)

   o  BNDREPLY (TBD2)

   o  POOLREQ (TBD3)

   o  POOLRESP (TBD4)

   o  UPDREQ (TBD5)

   o  UPDREQALL (TBD6)

   o  UPDDONE (TBD7)

   o  CONNECT (TBD8)

   o  CONNECTREPLY (TBD9)

   o  DISCONNECT (TBD10)

   o  STATE (TBD11)

   o  CONTACT (TBD12)

   IANA is requested to assign values for the following new DHCPv6
   Option codes in the registry maintained in
   http://www.iana.org/assignments/dhcpv6-parameters:

      OPTION_F_BINDING_STATUS (TBD13)

      OPTION_F_CONNECT_FLAGS (TBD14)

      OPTION_F_DNS_REMOVAL_INFO (TBD15)

      OPTION_F_DNS_HOST_NAME (TBD16)

      OPTION_F_DNS_ZONE_NAME (TBD17)

      OPTION_F_DNS_FLAGS (TBD18)

      OPTION_F_EXPIRATION_TIME (TBD19)

      OPTION_F_MAX_UNACKED_BNDUPD (TBD20)

      OPTION_F_MCLT (TBD21)

      OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME (TBD22)




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      OPTION_F_PARTNER_LIFETIME_SENT (TBD23)

      OPTION_F_PARTNER_DOWN_TIME (TBD24)

      OPTION_F_PARTNER_RAW_CLT_TIME (TBD25)

      OPTION_F_PROTOCOL_VERSION (TBD26)

      OPTION_F_KEEPALIVE_TIME (TBD27)

      OPTION_F_RECONFIGURE_DATA (TBD28)

      OPTION_F_RELATIONSHIP_NAME (TBD29)

      OPTION_F_SERVER_FLAGS (TBD30)

      OPTION_F_SERVER_STATE (TBD31)

      OPTION_F_START_TIME_OF_STATE (TBD32)

      OPTION_F_STATE_EXPIRATION_TIME (TBD33)

   IANA is requested to assign values for the following new DHCPv6
   Status codes in the registry maintained in
   http://www.iana.org/assignments/dhcpv6-parameters:

      AddressInUse (TBD34)

      ConfigurationConflict (TBD35)

      MissingBindingInformation (TBD36)

      OutdatedBindingInformation (TBD37)

      ServerShuttingDown (TBD38)

      DNSUpdateNotSupported (TBD39)

      ExcessiveTimeSkew (TBD40)

12.  Acknowledgements

   This document extensively uses concepts, definitions and other parts
   of an effort to document failover for DHCPv4.  Authors would like to
   thank Shawn Routhier, Greg Rabil, Bernie Volz and Marcin Siodelski
   for their significant involvement and contributions.  In particular,
   Bernie Volz and Shawn Routhier provided detailed and substantive
   technical reviews of the draft.  Authors would like to thank



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   VithalPrasad Gaitonde, Krzysztof Gierlowski, Krzysztof Nowicki and
   Michal Hoeft for their insightful comments.

13.  References

13.1.  Normative References

   [RFC1035]  Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - implementation and
              specification", STD 13, RFC 1035, DOI 10.17487/RFC1035,
              November 1987, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1035>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC2136]  Vixie, P., Ed., Thomson, S., Rekhter, Y., and J. Bound,
              "Dynamic Updates in the Domain Name System (DNS UPDATE)",
              RFC 2136, DOI 10.17487/RFC2136, April 1997,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2136>.

   [RFC3315]  Droms, R., Ed., Bound, J., Volz, B., Lemon, T., Perkins,
              C., and M. Carney, "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
              for IPv6 (DHCPv6)", RFC 3315, DOI 10.17487/RFC3315, July
              2003, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3315>.

   [RFC3633]  Troan, O. and R. Droms, "IPv6 Prefix Options for Dynamic
              Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) version 6", RFC 3633,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC3633, December 2003,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3633>.

   [RFC4703]  Stapp, M. and B. Volz, "Resolution of Fully Qualified
              Domain Name (FQDN) Conflicts among Dynamic Host
              Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Clients", RFC 4703,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC4703, October 2006,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4703>.

   [RFC4704]  Volz, B., "The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for
              IPv6 (DHCPv6) Client Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)
              Option", RFC 4704, DOI 10.17487/RFC4704, October 2006,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4704>.

   [RFC5007]  Brzozowski, J., Kinnear, K., Volz, B., and S. Zeng,
              "DHCPv6 Leasequery", RFC 5007, DOI 10.17487/RFC5007,
              September 2007, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5007>.






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   [RFC5246]  Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, "The Transport Layer Security
              (TLS) Protocol Version 1.2", RFC 5246,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5246, August 2008,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5246>.

   [RFC5460]  Stapp, M., "DHCPv6 Bulk Leasequery", RFC 5460,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC5460, February 2009,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5460>.

   [RFC6607]  Kinnear, K., Johnson, R., and M. Stapp, "Virtual Subnet
              Selection Options for DHCPv4 and DHCPv6", RFC 6607,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6607, April 2012,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6607>.

   [RFC7525]  Sheffer, Y., Holz, R., and P. Saint-Andre,
              "Recommendations for Secure Use of Transport Layer
              Security (TLS) and Datagram Transport Layer Security
              (DTLS)", BCP 195, RFC 7525, DOI 10.17487/RFC7525, May
              2015, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7525>.

   [RFC7653]  Raghuvanshi, D., Kinnear, K., and D. Kukrety, "DHCPv6
              Active Leasequery", RFC 7653, DOI 10.17487/RFC7653,
              October 2015, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7653>.

13.2.  Informative References

   [RFC7031]  Mrugalski, T. and K. Kinnear, "DHCPv6 Failover
              Requirements", RFC 7031, DOI 10.17487/RFC7031, September
              2013, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7031>.

Authors' Addresses

   Tomasz Mrugalski
   Internet Systems Consortium, Inc.
   950 Charter Street
   Redwood City, CA  94063
   USA

   Phone: +1 650 423 1345
   Email: tomasz.mrugalski@gmail.com











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Internet-Draft          DHCPv6 Failover Protocol           February 2017


   Kim Kinnear
   Cisco Systems, Inc.
   1414 Massachusetts Avenue
   Boxborough, Massachusetts  01719
   USA

   Phone: +1 (978) 936-0000
   Email: kkinnear@cisco.com











































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