Dual Stack Hosts using the "Bump-In-the-Stack" Technique (BIS)
RFC 2767
| Document | Type |
RFC - Informational
(February 2000; No errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 6535
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
| Stream | IETF | ||
| Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized bibtex | ||
| Stream | WG state | (None) | |
| Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
| IESG | IESG state | RFC 2767 (Informational) | |
| Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
| Telechat date | |||
| Responsible AD | (None) | ||
| Send notices to | (None) | ||
Network Working Group K. Tsuchiya
Requests for Comments: 2767 H. Higuchi
Category: Informational Y. Atarashi
Hitachi
February 2000
Dual Stack Hosts using the "Bump-In-the-Stack" Technique (BIS)
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
In the especially initial stage of the transition from IPv4 to IPv6,
it is hard to provide a complete set of IPv6 applications. This memo
proposes a mechanism of dual stack hosts using the technique called
"Bump-in-the-Stack" in the IP security area. The mechanism allows the
hosts to communicate with other IPv6 hosts using existing IPv4
applications.
1. Introduction
RFC1933 [TRANS-MECH] specifies transition mechanisms, including dual
stack and tunneling, for the initial stage. Hosts and routers with
the transition mechanisms are also developed. But there are few
applications for IPv6 [IPV6] as compared with IPv4 [IPV4] in which a
great number of applications are available. In order to advance the
transition smoothly, it is highly desirable to make the availability
of IPv6 applications increase to the same level as IPv4.
Unfortunately, however, this is expected to take a very long time.
This memo proposes a mechanism of dual stack hosts using the
technique called "Bump-in-the-Stack" [BUMP] in the IP security area.
The technique inserts modules, which snoop data flowing between a
TCP/IPv4 module and network card driver modules and translate IPv4
into IPv6 and vice versa, into the hosts, and makes them self-
translators. When they communicate with the other IPv6 hosts, pooled
IPv4 addresses are assigned to the IPv6 hosts internally, but the
IPv4 addresses never flow out from them. Moreover, since the
assignment is automatically carried out using DNS protocol, users do
Tsuchiya, et al. Informational [Page 1]
RFC 2767 Dual Stack Hosts using BIS February 2000
not need to know whether target hosts are IPv6 ones. That is, this
allows them to communicate with other IPv6 hosts using existing IPv4
applications; thus it seems as if they were dual stack hosts with
applications for both IPv4 and IPv6. So they can expand the territory
of dual stack hosts. Furthermore they can co-exist with other
translators because their roles are different.
This memo uses the words defined in [IPV4], [IPV6], and [TRANS-MECH].
2. Components
Dual stack hosts defined in RFC1933 [TRANS-MECH] need applications,
TCP/IP modules and addresses for both IPv4 and IPv6. The proposed
hosts in this memo have 3 modules instead of IPv6 applications, and
communicate with other IPv6 hosts using IPv4 applications. They are a
translator, an extension name resolver and an address mapper.
Figure 1 illustrates the structure of the host in which they are
installed.
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| +----------------------------------------------------+ |
| | IPv4 applications | |
| +----------------------------------------------------+ |
| +----------------------------------------------------+ |
| | TCP/IPv4 | |
| | +-------------------------------------------+ |
| | | +-----------+ +---------+ +------------+ |
| | | | extension | | address | | translator | |
| | | | name | | mapper | +------------+ |
| | | | resolver | | | +------------+ |
| | | | | | | | IPv6 | |
| +--------+ +-----------+ +---------+ +------------+ |
| +----------------------------------------------------+ |
| | Network card drivers | |
| +----------------------------------------------------+ |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Network cards |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
Figure. 1 Structure of the proposed dual stack host
Tsuchiya, et al. Informational [Page 2]
RFC 2767 Dual Stack Hosts using BIS February 2000
2.1 Translator
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