Stateless Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Service for IPv6
RFC 3736
Document | Type |
RFC - Proposed Standard
(April 2004; Errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 8415
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Author | Ralph Droms | ||
Last updated | 2020-01-21 | ||
Stream | Internent Engineering Task Force (IETF) | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized (tools) htmlized with errata bibtex | ||
Stream | WG state | (None) | |
Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 3736 (Proposed Standard) | |
Action Holders |
(None)
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Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | Margaret Cullen | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group R. Droms Request for Comments: 3736 Cisco Systems Category: Standards Track April 2004 Stateless Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Service for IPv6 Status of this Memo This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved. Abstract Stateless Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol service for IPv6 (DHCPv6) is used by nodes to obtain configuration information, such as the addresses of DNS recursive name servers, that does not require the maintenance of any dynamic state for individual clients. A node that uses stateless DHCP must have obtained its IPv6 addresses through some other mechanism, typically stateless address autoconfiguration. This document explains which parts of RFC 3315 must be implemented in each of the different kinds of DHCP agents so that agent can support stateless DHCP. 1. Introduction Nodes that have obtained IPv6 addresses through some other mechanism, such as stateless address autoconfiguration [6] or manual configuration, can use stateless DHCP to obtain other configuration information such as a list of DNS recursive name servers or SIP servers. A stateless DHCP server provides only configuration information to nodes and does not perform any address assignment. Such a server is called "stateless" because it need not maintain any dynamic state for individual clients. While the DHCP specification [1] defines more than 10 protocol messages and 20 options, only a subset of those messages and options are required for stateless DHCP service. This document explains which messages and options defined in RFC 3315 are required for stateless DHCP service. The intended use of the document is to guide Droms Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 3736 Stateless DHCP Service for IPv6 April 2004 the interoperable implementation of clients and servers that use stateless DHCP service. The operation of relay agents is the same for stateless and stateful DHCP service. The operation of relay agents is described in the DHCP specification. Section 4 of this document lists the sections of the DHCP document that an implementor should read for an overview of the DHCP specification and the basic requirements of a DHCP service. Section 5 lists the specific messages and options that are specifically required for stateless DHCP service. Section 6 describes how stateless and stateful DHCP servers interact to provide service to clients that require address assignment and clients that require only stateless service. 2. Terminology Throughout this document, "DHCP" refers to DHCP for IPv6. This document uses the terminology defined in RFC 2460 [2], the DHCP specification [1], and the DHCP DNS configuration options specification [3]. "Stateless DHCP" refers to the use of DHCP to provide configuration information to clients that does not require the server to maintain dynamic state about the DHCP clients. 3. Overview This document assumes that a node using stateless DHCP configuration is not using DHCP for address assignment, and that a node has determined at least a link-local address as described in section 5.3 of RFC 2461 [4]. To obtain configuration parameters through stateless DHCP, a node uses the DHCP Information-request message. DHCP servers respond to the node's message with a Reply message that carries configuration parameters for the node. The Reply message from the server can carry configuration information, such as a list of DNS recursive name servers [3] and SIP servers [5]. This document does not apply to the function of DHCP relay agents as described in RFC 3315. A network element can provide both DHCP server and DHCP relay service. For example, a network element can provide stateless DHCP service to hosts requesting stateless DHCP service, while relaying messages from hosts requesting address assignment through DHCP to another DHCP server. Droms Standards Track [Page 2] RFC 3736 Stateless DHCP Service for IPv6 April 2004 4. Basic Requirements for Implementation of DHCP Several sections of the DHCP specification provide background information or define parts of the specification that are common to all implementations: 1-4: give an introduction to DHCP and an overview of DHCP messageShow full document text