Internet Engineering Task Force

Dynamic Host Configuration (dhc)

In addition to this official charter maintained by the IETF Secretariat, there is additional information about this working group on the Web at:
Additional DHC Page

Last Modified: 2009-04-16

Additional information is available at tools.ietf.org/wg/dhc

Chair(s):

Internet Area Director(s):

Internet Area Advisor:

Ralph Droms <rdroms.ietf@gmail.com>

Mailing Lists:

General Discussion: dhcwg@ietf.org
To Subscribe: http://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/dhcwg
Archive: http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/dhcwg/current/maillist.html

Description of Working Group:

The dhc working group (DHC WG) has developed DHCP for automated
allocation, configuration and management of IP addresses and TCP/IP
protocol stack parameters. DHCPv4 is currently a "Draft Standard" and
is documented in RFC 2131 and RFC 2132. DHCPv6 is currently a
"Proposed Standard" and is documented in RFC 3315. Subsequent RFCs
document additional options and other enhancements to the
specifications.

The DHC WG is responsible for reviewing DHCP options or other
extensions (for both IPv4 and IPv6). The DHC WG is expected to review
all proposed extensions to DHCP to ensure that they are consistent
with the DHCP specification and other option formats, that they do not
duplicate existing mechanisms, etc. Generally speaking, the DHC WG
will not be responsible for evaluating the semantic content of
proposed options. Similarly, the ownership of specifications typically
belongs the relevant working group that needs more functionality from
DHCP, not the DHC WG. The DHC WG coordinates reviews of the proposed
options together with those working groups. It is required that those
working groups have consensus to take on the work and that the work is
within their charter. Exceptionally, with AD agreement, this same
process can also be used for Individual Submissions originating
outside WGs.

However, the DHC WG can in some cases develop its own options that
relate to either maintenance of existing specifications or
improvements in the operation of the DHCP infrastructure itself.

The DHC WG has the following main objectives:

* Develop extensions to the DHCP infrastructure as required to meet
new applications and deployments of DHCP. The topics currently
in development are:

- Subnet allocation mechanisms
- Virtual subnet identification option
- Option for passing DNS domain information in DHCPv6
- DHCP relay agent assignment notification in DHCPv6
- Option for DHCPv6 server reply sequence numbers
- Rebinding capability for DHCPv6 Reconfigure messages
- Behavior of layer 2 relay agents

The adoption of new items requires explicit agreement from
the AD or rechartering.

* Write analyses of the DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 specifications,
including RFC 2131, RFC 2132, RFC 3315 and other RFCs defining
additional options, which identifies ambiguities, contradictory
specifications and other obstacles to development of interoperable
implementations. Recommend a process for resolving identified
problems and incorporating the resolutions into the DHCP
specification.

Secondly, advance DHCPv4 (RFC 2131 and RFC 2132) and DHCPv6 (RFC
3315) in IETF Standards Track.

Thirdly, specify guidelines for creating new DHCP options, and
report on the status of DHCPv4 option reclassification.

* Assess the requirements for a dual-stack host to use DHCP to obtain
configuration settings for both IPv4 and IPv6. Hosts that include
implementations of both IPv4 and IPv6 ("dual-stack hosts") may use
DHCP to obtain configuration settings (including assigned addresses)
for both IPv4 and IPv6. The DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 specifications (RFC
2131, RFC 2132, RFC 3315 and subsequent RFCs) do not explicitly
explain how a dual-stack host uses DHCP to obtain configuration
settings for both IP stacks. The DHC WG will evaluate solutions for
configuration of dual-stack hosts through DHCP and select a solution
that will be developed and published by the WG.

* Hold a discussion whether on-link prefix information and default
router information is needed in DHCP in addition to router
advertisements. Actual solutions are out of scope for the WG,
however.

Goals and Milestones:

Done		WG Last Call on DHCP Options for Internet Storage Name Service (draft-ietf-dhc-isnsoption-03.txt)
Done		WG Last Call on Load Balancing for DHCPv6 (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-loadb-02.txt)
Done		WG Last Call on Time Configuration Options for DHCPv6 (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-opt-timeconfig-01.txt)
Done		WG Last Call on IPv6 Prefix Options for DHCPv6 (draft-troan-dhcpv6-opt-prefix-delegation-02.txt)
Done		WG Last Call on DNS Configuration options for DHCPv6 (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-opt-dnsconfig-01.txt)
Done		WG Last Call on NIS Configuration Options for DHCPv6 (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-opt-nisconfig-01.txt)
Done		Resubmit draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-28.txt to IESG
Done		Identify DHCPv4 authentication design team
Done		Identify DHCPv4 specification review design team
Done		Identify DHCPv4 relay agent message authentication design team
Done		Submit DHCP Options for Internet Storage Name Service to IESG (draft-ietf-dhc-isnsoption)
Done		Submit DNS Configuration options for DHCPv6 to IESG (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-opt-dnsconfig)
Done		Submit NIS Configuratio Options for DHCPv6 to IESG (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-opt-nisconfig)
Done		Submit IPv6 Prefix Options for DHCPv6 to IESG (draft-troan-dhcpv6-opt-prefix-delegation)
Done		Submit 'Detection of Network Attachment (DNA) in IPv4' to IESG (draft-ietf-dhc-dna-ipv4)
Done		Resolve IPR issues around 'Rapid Commit Option for DHCPv4'
Done		Publish report on dual-stack issues in DHCP (draft-ietf-dhc-dual-stack)
Done		Publish report on requirements for renumbering using stateless DHCPv6 (draft-ietf-dhc-stateless-dhcpv6-renumbering)
Done		Submit 'Lifetime Option for DHCPv6' to IESG (draft-ietf-dhc-lifetime)
Done		Submit 'Rapid Commit Option for DHCPv4' to IESG (draft-ietf-dhc-rapid-commit-opt)
Done		Submit DDNS/DHCP documents to IESG
Done		Submit 'Node-Specific Client Identifiers for DHCPv4' to IESG (draft-ietf-dhc-3315id-for-v4)
Done		WG last call for 'Subnet Allocation Option'
Done		WG last call on 'Virtual Subnet Selection Option'
Oct 2007		Submit 'Subnet Allocation Option' (draft-ietf-dhc-subnet-alloc-04) to IESG for Proposed Standard
Nov 2007		WG last call on 'Guidelines for Creating New DHCP Options' (draft-ietf-dhc-option-guidelines)
Nov 2007		Submit 'Virtual Subnet Selection Option', (draft-ietf-dhc-vpn-option) and (draft-ietf-dhc-agent-vpn-id) to IESG for Proposed Standard
Dec 2007		WG last call for 'Domain Suffix Option for DHCPv6' (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-opt-dnsdomain)
Jan 2008		Submit 'Domain Suffix Option for DHCPv6' (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-opt-dnsdomain) to IESG for Proposed Standard
Jan 2008		Submit 'Guidelines for Creating New DHCP Options' (draft-ietf-dhc-option-guidelines) to IESG for Best Current Practice
Jan 2008		Develop plan for advancing DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 plan to include completion of DHCPv4 specification review report, 'Implementation Issues with RFC 2131' (draft-ietf-dhc-implementation) for Informational
Feb 2008		WG last call for 'Status of Reclassifying DHCPv4 Options' (draft-ietf-dhc-status-3942)
Feb 2008		WG last call for 'Dual-stack clients and merging of data from DHCPv4 and DHCPv6' (draft-ietf-dhc-dual-stack-merge); waiting for more experience with IPv6 deployment
Feb 2008		WG last call for 'Rebind Capability in DHCPv6 Reconfigure Messages' (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-reconfigure-rebind)
Mar 2008		Submit 'Status of Reclassifying DHCPv4 Options' (draft-ietf-dhc-status-3942) to IESG for Informational
Apr 2008		2nd WG last call for 'DHCP Relay Agent Assignment Notification Option (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-agentopt-delegate) and 'DHCPv6 Server Reply Sequence Number Option' (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-srsn-option)
May 2008		Submit 'Rebind Capability in DHCPv6 Reconfigure Messages' (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-reconfigure-rebind) to IESG for Proposed Standard
Jun 2008		WG last call on 'Layer 2 Relay Agent Behaviour' (draft-ietf-dhc-layer2-relay-agent)
Jul 2008		Submit 'Layer 2 Relay Agent Behaviour' to IESG (draft-ietf-dhc-layer2-relay-agent) for Informational
Jul 2008		Submit 'DHCP Relay Agent Assignment Notification Option' (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-agentopt-delegate) and 'DHCPv6 Server Reply Sequence Number Option' (draft-ietf-dhc-dhcpv6-srsn-option) to IESG for Proposed Standard
Jul 2008		Recharter, if needed

Internet-Drafts:

Virtual Subnet Selection Options for DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 (47289 bytes)
Subnet Allocation Option (55700 bytes)
Rebind Capability in DHCPv6 Reconfigure Messages (10540 bytes)
Container Option for Server Configuration (18004 bytes)
The DHCPv4 Relay Agent Identifier Suboption (13857 bytes)
DHCPv6 option for network boot (22334 bytes)
DHCPv4 Leasequery by relay agent remote ID (41921 bytes)
DHCPv6 Vendor-specific Message (10246 bytes)
DHCPv4 Vendor-specific Message (11851 bytes)
Bulk DHCPv4 Lease Query (82328 bytes)
Lightweight DHCPv6 Relay Agent (29389 bytes)

Request For Comments: