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: 2007-09-26

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

Chair(s):

Ralph Droms <rdroms@cisco.com>

Stig Venaas <venaas@uninett.no>

Internet Area Director(s):

Jari Arkko <jari.arkko@piuha.net>

Mark Townsley <townsley@cisco.com>

Internet Area Advisor:

Jari Arkko <jari.arkko@piuha.net>

Mailing Lists:

General Discussion: dhcwg@ietf.org
To Subscribe: http://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/dhcwg
Archive: http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/dhcwg/index.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 (and sometimes developing)
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. The DHC
WG will not (generally) be responsible for evaluating the semantic
content of proposed options. The DHC WG will not adopt new proposals
for extensions to DHCP as working group documents without first
coordinating with other relevant working groups and determining who
has the responsibility for reviewing the semantic content of an
option.

The DHC WG has the following main objectives:

* Address security in DHCP

o Develop and document security requirements for DHCP. RFC 3118
defines current security mechanisms for DHCPv4. Unfortunately,
RFC 3118 has neither been implemented nor deployed to date.
Specific issues to be considered include:

- Improved key management and scalability

- Security for messages passed between relay agents and servers

- Threats of DoS attacks through DHCPFORCERENEW

- The increased usage of DHC on unsecured (e.g., wireless) and
public LANs

- The need for clients to be able to authenticate servers, without
simultaneously requiring client authentication by the server.

o Develop and document a roadmap of any new documents or protocols
needed to meet the security requirements for DHCP

* Write an analysis of the DHCP specification, including RFC 2131,
RFC 2132 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.

* 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.

* Assess the requirements for informing DHCPv6 clients of changes in
configuration information. The DHCPv6 specification in RFC 3315
includes a mechanism through which clients can obtain other
configuration information without obtaining an address or addresses.
This mechanisms is sometimes called "stateless DHCPv6" and is
specified in RFC 3736. RFC 3315 includes no provision for notifying
DHCPv6 clients using stateless DHCPv6 of changes in the
configuration information supplied to the client or any
recommendations as to when a client should obtain possibly updated
information. The DHC WG will evaluate solutions for informing
DHCPv6 clients of changes in configuration information and select a
solution that will be developed and published by the WG.

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)
Sep 2004		DHCPv4 authentication design team report completed, 'Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv4 (DHCPv4) Threat Analysis'
Sep 2004		DHCPv4 specification review report completed
Sep 2004		Submit 'DHCP Failover Protocol' to IESG (draft-ietf-dhc-failover)
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)

Internet-Drafts:

Virtual Subnet Selection Option (16446 bytes)
DHCP Server Identifier Override Suboption (15450 bytes)
Subnet Allocation Option (54443 bytes)
DHCP options for PANA Authentication Agents (16022 bytes)
Domain Suffix Option for DHCPv6 (11637 bytes)
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Options Used by PXELINUX (28104 bytes)
Guidelines for Creating New DHCP Options (37556 bytes)

Request For Comments:

IETF Secretariat - Please send questions, comments, and/or suggestions to ietf-web@ietf.org.

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