Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Fibre Channel
RFC 3831

• Status
• IESG evaluation record
• IESG writeups
• Email expansions
• History

• Versions
• 02

Network Working Group                                         C. DeSanti
Request for Comments: 3831                                 Cisco Systems
Category: Standards Track                                      July 2004

            Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Fibre Channel

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).

Abstract

   This document specifies the way of encapsulating IPv6 packets over
   Fibre Channel, and the method of forming IPv6 link-local addresses
   and statelessly autoconfigured addresses on Fibre Channel networks.

Table Of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
   2.  Summary of Fibre Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
       2.1.  Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
       2.2.  Identifiers and Login. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
       2.3.  FC Levels and Frame Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
       2.4.  Sequences and Exchanges  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.  IPv6 Capable Nx_Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   4.  IPv6 Encapsulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       4.1.  FC Sequence Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       4.2.  FC Classes of Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
       4.3.  FC Header Code Points. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
       4.4.  FC Network_Header. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
       4.5.  LLC/SNAP Header. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
       4.6.  Bit and Byte Ordering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   5.  Maximum Transfer Unit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   6.  Stateless Address Autoconfiguration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
       6.1.  IPv6 Interface Identifier and Address Prefix . . . . . . 10
       6.2.  Generating an Interface ID from a Format 1
             N_Port_Name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
       6.3.  Generating an Interface ID from a Format 2
             N_Port_Name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

DeSanti                     Standards Track                     [Page 1]
RFC 3831                IPv6 over Fibre Channel                July 2004

       6.4.  Generating an Interface ID from a Format 5
             N_Port_Name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
       6.5.  Generating an Interface ID from an EUI-64
             mapped N_Port_Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
   7.  Link-Local Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   8.  Address Mapping for Unicast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
   9.  Address Mapping for Multicast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   10. Sequence Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   11. Exchange Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
   12. Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   13. Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
   14. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
       14.1.  Normative References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
       14.2.  Informative References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
   A.  Transmission of a Broadcast FC Sequence over FC Topologies . . 20
   B.  Validation of the <N_Port_Name, N_Port_ID> mapping . . . . . . 21
   C.  Fibre Channel Bit and Byte Numbering Guidance. . . . . . . . . 22
   Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
   Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

1.  Introduction

   Fibre Channel (FC) is a high speed serial interface technology that
   supports several Upper Layer Protocols including Small Computer
   System Interface (SCSI) and IPv4 as specified in [IPFC].

   The purpose of this document is to specify a way of encapsulating IP
   version 6 [IPv6] over Fibre Channel and to describe a method of
   forming IPv6 link-local addresses [AARCH] and statelessly
   autoconfigured addresses on Fibre Channel networks.  This document
   also describes the content of the Source/Target Link-layer Address
   option used in Neighbor Discovery [DISC] when the messages are
   transmitted on a Fibre Channel network.

   Warning to readers familiar with Fibre Channel: both Fibre Channel
   and IETF standards use the same byte transmission order.  However,
   the bit numbering is different.  See Appendix C for guidance.

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