Internet Protocols for the Smart Grid
RFC 6272

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                          F. Baker
Request for Comments: 6272                                      D. Meyer
Category: Informational                                    Cisco Systems
ISSN: 2070-1721                                                June 2011

                 Internet Protocols for the Smart Grid

Abstract

   This note identifies the key infrastructure protocols of the Internet
   Protocol Suite for use in the Smart Grid.  The target audience is
   those people seeking guidance on how to construct an appropriate
   Internet Protocol Suite profile for the Smart Grid.  In practice,
   such a profile would consist of selecting what is needed for Smart
   Grid deployment from the picture presented here.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
   approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6272.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2011 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 Simplified BSD License.

Baker & Meyer                 Informational                     [Page 1]
RFC 6272          Internet Protocols for the Smart Grid        June 2011

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   2.  The Internet Protocol Suite  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
     2.1.  Internet Protocol Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       2.1.1.  Application  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
       2.1.2.  Transport  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
       2.1.3.  Network  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
         2.1.3.1.  Internet Protocol  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
         2.1.3.2.  Lower-Layer Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
       2.1.4.  Media Layers: Physical and Link  . . . . . . . . . . .  9
     2.2.  Security Issues  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
       2.2.1.  Physical and Data Link Layer Security  . . . . . . . . 10
       2.2.2.  Network, Transport, and Application Layer Security . . 11
     2.3.  Network Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
       2.3.1.  Domain Name System (DNS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
       2.3.2.  Network Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   3.  Specific Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
     3.1.  Security Toolbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
       3.1.1.  Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA)  . 14
       3.1.2.  Network Layer Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
       3.1.3.  Transport Layer Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
       3.1.4.  Application Layer Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
       3.1.5.  Secure Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
       3.1.6.  Key Management Infrastructures . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
         3.1.6.1.  PKIX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
         3.1.6.2.  Kerberos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
     3.2.  Network Layer  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
       3.2.1.  IPv4/IPv6 Coexistence Advice . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
         3.2.1.1.  Dual Stack Coexistence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
         3.2.1.2.  Tunneling Mechanism  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
         3.2.1.3.  Translation between IPv4 and IPv6 Networks . . . . 20
       3.2.2.  Internet Protocol Version 4  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
         3.2.2.1.  IPv4 Address Allocation and Assignment . . . . . . 22
         3.2.2.2.  IPv4 Unicast Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
         3.2.2.3.  IPv4 Multicast Forwarding and Routing  . . . . . . 22
       3.2.3.  Internet Protocol Version 6  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
         3.2.3.1.  IPv6 Address Allocation and Assignment . . . . . . 23
         3.2.3.2.  IPv6 Routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24