Locating IEEE 802.21 Mobility Services Using DNS
RFC 5679

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Network Working Group                                           G. Bajko
Request for Comments: 5679                                         Nokia
Category: Standards Track                                  December 2009

            Locating IEEE 802.21 Mobility Services Using DNS

Abstract

   This document defines application service tags that allow service
   location without relying on rigid domain naming conventions, and DNS
   procedures for discovering servers that provide IEEE 802.21-defined
   Mobility Services.  Such Mobility Services are used to assist a
   Mobile Node (MN) supporting IEEE 802.21, in handover preparation
   (network discovery) and handover decision (network selection).  The
   services addressed by this document are the Media Independent
   Handover Services defined in IEEE 802.21.

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) 2009 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
   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 BSD License.

Bajko                       Standards Track                     [Page 1]
RFC 5679          Locating Mobility Services Using DNS     December 2009

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
      1.1. Conventions Used in This Document ..........................3
      1.2. Terminology ................................................3
   2. Discovering a Mobility Server ...................................3
      2.1. Selecting a Mobility Service ...............................5
      2.2. Selecting the Transport Protocol ...........................5
      2.3. Determining the IP Address and Port ........................6
   3. IANA Considerations .............................................7
   4. Security Considerations .........................................8
   5. Normative References ............................................8
   6. Informative References ..........................................9

1.  Introduction

   IEEE 802.21 [IEEE802.21] defines three distinct service types to
   facilitate link-layer handovers across heterogeneous technologies:

   a) MIH Information Service (MIHIS)
      IS provide a unified framework to the higher-layer entities across
      the heterogeneous network environment to facilitate discovery and
      selection of multiple types of networks existing within a
      geographical area, with the objective to help the higher-layer
      mobility protocols to acquire a global view of the heterogeneous
      networks and perform seamless handover across these networks.

   b) MIH Event Service (MIHES)
      Events may indicate changes in state and transmission behavior of
      the physical, data link and logical link layers, or predict state
      changes of these layers.  The Event Services may also be used to
      indicate management actions or command status on the part of the
      network or some management entity.

   c) MIH Command Service (MIHCS)
      The command service enables higher layers to control the physical,
      data link, and logical link layers.  The higher layers may control
      the reconfiguration or selection of an appropriate link through a
      set of handover commands.

   In IEEE terminology, these services are called Media Independent
   Handover (MIH) services.  While these services may be co-located, the
   different pattern and type of information they provide do not
   necessitate the co-location.

Bajko                       Standards Track                     [Page 2]
RFC 5679          Locating Mobility Services Using DNS     December 2009

   "Service Management" service messages, i.e., MIH registration, MIH
   capability discovery and MIH event subscription messages, are
   considered as MIHES and MIHCS when transporting MIH messages over L3
   transport.

   A Mobile Node (MN) may make use of any of these MIH service types
   separately or any combination of them.

   It is anticipated that a Mobility Server will not necessarily host
   all three of these MIH services together, thus there is a need to
   discover the MIH service types separately.