Objectives for Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP)
RFC 4564

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Network Working Group                                   S. Govindan, Ed.
Request for Comments: 4564                                      H. Cheng
Category: Informational                                        Panasonic
                                                                 ZH. Yao
                                                                  Huawei
                                                                WH. Zhou
                                                            China Mobile
                                                                 L. Yang
                                                                   Intel
                                                               July 2006

                            Objectives for
      Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP)

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 (2006).

Abstract

   This document presents objectives for an interoperable protocol for
   the Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP).  The
   document aims to establish a set of focused requirements for the
   development and evaluation of a CAPWAP protocol.  The objectives
   address architecture, operation, security, and network operator
   requirements that are necessary to enable interoperability among
   Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) devices of alternative designs.

Govindan, et al.             Informational                      [Page 1]
RFC 4564                   CAPWAP Objectives                   July 2006

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................3
   2. Terminology .....................................................3
   3. Requirements Notation ...........................................4
   4. Objectives Overview .............................................4
   5. Objectives ......................................................5
      5.1. Mandatory and Accepted Objectives ..........................5
           5.1.1. Logical Groups ......................................5
           5.1.2. Support for Traffic Separation ......................6
           5.1.3. Wireless Terminal Transparency ......................8
           5.1.4. Configuration Consistency ...........................8
           5.1.5. Firmware Trigger ....................................9
           5.1.6. Monitoring and Exchange of System-wide
                  Resource State .....................................10
           5.1.7. Resource Control Objective .........................11
           5.1.8. CAPWAP Protocol Security ...........................12
           5.1.9. System-wide Security ...............................14
           5.1.10. IEEE 802.11i Considerations .......................15
           5.1.11.  Interoperability Objective .......................17
           5.1.12.  Protocol Specifications ..........................18
           5.1.13.  Vendor Independence ..............................19
           5.1.14.  Vendor Flexibility ...............................19
           5.1.15.  NAT Traversal ....................................20
      5.2. Desirable Objectives ......................................21
           5.2.1. Multiple Authentication Mechanisms .................21
           5.2.2. Support for Future Wireless Technologies ...........21
           5.2.3. Support for New IEEE Requirements ..................22
           5.2.4. Interconnection Objective ..........................23
           5.2.5.  Access Control ....................................24
      5.3. Non-Objectives ............................................25
           5.3.1. Support for Non-CAPWAP WTPs ........................25
           5.3.2. Technical Specifications ...........................26
      5.4. Operator Requirements .....................................27
           5.4.1. AP Fast Handoff ....................................27
   6. Summary and Conclusion .........................................27
   7. Security Considerations ........................................28
   8. Acknowledgements ...............................................29
   9. Normative References ...........................................29
   10. Informative References ........................................29

Govindan, et al.             Informational                      [Page 2]
RFC 4564                   CAPWAP Objectives                   July 2006

1.  Introduction

   The growth in large-scale Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)
   deployments has brought into focus a number of technical challenges.
   Among them is the complexity of managing large numbers of Wireless
   Termination Points (WTPs), which is further exacerbated by variations
   in their design.  Another challenge is the maintenance of consistent