dhc Working Group S. Gandhewar Internet-Draft Juniper Networks, Inc. Intended status: Standards Track October 1, 2015 Expires: April 3, 2016 DHCP Relay Initiated Release draft-gandhewar-dhc-relay-initiated-release-01 Abstract The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is initiated by a DHCP client. A DHCP server can force DHCP client to send DHCPRENEW by sending a DHCPFORCERENEW message. There may be multiple DHCP network devices connected in between a DHCP client and a server, each one reserving resources for the DHCP client. There are no DHCP messages that a relay can initiate in order to control the client binding. A DHCP client may not always send a DHCPRELEASE message when it no longer needs the IP address and network resources for the associated services it is using. This document specifies a way to request release message to be initiated by an intermediate DHCP network device, e.g. DHCP relay, on behalf of DHCP client. This helps to relinquish network resources sooner than the lease expiration time. Status of This Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." This Internet-Draft will expire on April 3, 2016. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2015 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. Gandhewar Expires April 3, 2016 [Page 1] Internet-Draft DHCP Relay Initiated Release October 2015 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. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3. New Message and Option Value Definitions . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.1. DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.2. DHCPRELAYREPLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.3. NoBinding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3.4. NotConfigured . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4. Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 4.1. First DHCP Network Device Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4.1.1. Generation and Transmission of DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 4.1.2. Receipt of DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY Message . . . . . . . . 7 4.1.3. Receipt of DHCPRELAYREPLY Message . . . . . . . . . . 7 4.1.4. Receiving No Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4.2. DHCP Server Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4.2.1. Receipt of DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY Message . . . . . . . . 8 4.2.2. Generation and Transmission of DHCPRELAYREPLY Message 8 5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 6. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 7. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1. Introduction DHCP [RFC2131] provides a framework for configuring clients with network addresses and other network parameters. It includes a relay agent capability where DHCP server may not be directly connected to the DHCP client. A relay agent is an intermediate node that passes DHCP messages between DHCP clients and DHCP servers. As per [RFC2131], a relay agent cannot generate a message on its own which can control the client binding. Figure 1 below shows a typical network with multiple DHCP devices. Gandhewar Expires April 3, 2016 [Page 2] Internet-Draft DHCP Relay Initiated Release October 2015 +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ | DHCP |-----| DHCP |--...--| DHCP |-----| DHCP | | Server | | Relay n | | Relay 1 | | Client | +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ Figure 1: Typical DHCP Network While providing an IP address to the DHCP Client, Service Providers (e.g. Broadband Service Providers), creates a logical interface per client, programs various routes (e.g. access routes, framed routes) for the client to access the network and services, attaches services (e.g. voice, video, data), maintains policy, applies QoS. Along with these resources there is a need for memory and bandwidth per client. Since all these resources are limited on a network device (e.g. Broadband Network Gateway), it defines the scaling capacity of the device. Subscription rate for the Service Providers is thus limited by the availability of the IP addresses as well as the resources on their network device. A DHCP client may be connected to the DHCP server through multiple DHCP network devices, e.g. multiple DHCP relay and/or relay-proxy. These network resources remain reserved for the client at all the DHCP network devices until the lease expires. In some situations, there might be need to clear the client binding administratively. The process of administratively clearing the client binding is very cumbersome. The administrator needs to access every single DHCP network device (relay, relay-proxy) and also the DHCP server, and clear the DHCP client binding at each of these devices manually. In some situations when the DHCP client is replaced (e.g. replacing the set-top-box) due to the device failure or upgrade, the older DHCP client might not have sent the DHCPRELEASE message on its failure. In this case, the previously assigned IP address and network resources for the older (stale) client will stay reserved and unused until the lease expires. Same is the situation where clients move frequently without sending DHCPRELEASE e.g. in the case of mobile networks, network resources stay reserved and unused. Similarly, network resources stay reserved and unused where DHCP clients login and logout frequently without sending DHCPRELEASE e.g. Wi-Fi access centers. As per DHCP protocol it is not mandatory for the DHCP client to send a DHCPRELEASE message while disconnecting. As per the statistics from Service Providers, 95% of the cases DHCP client does not send DHCPRELEASE message when it no longer needs the service. It is also Gandhewar Expires April 3, 2016 [Page 3] Internet-Draft DHCP Relay Initiated Release October 2015 possible that the UDP datagram carrying a DHCPRELEASE message may get dropped due to network issues. All the resources including the IP address remain reserved for the client at all the DHCP network devices until the lease expires. Service Providers needs to take into account such situations and are forced to lower the subscription rate. Thus it reduces the scaling per network device. Also it causes errors for the time based billing. It is possible for the first DHCP network device, i.e. "DHCP Relay 1" in Figure 1 which is closest to the DHCP client, to detect that the DHCP client is replaced, moved or is no longer present on the network. In this scenario, the relay agent doesn't have any mechanism to inform the server to release the client's binding and subsequently relinquish network resources. With the relay initiated release message, when a relay detects client's unavailability or needs to clear the client binding administratively, it can generate the release message on behalf of the client and send it to the server. Thus, all the DHCP network devices along the path will be in synchronization with respect to the client's binding information and network resources can be relinquished earlier than the lease expiry. The server MAY choose to integrate some mechanism to confirm with the client, e.g. generate FORCERENEW message before sending reply to the relay. It is outside the scope of this document. Generation of the relay initiated release SHOULD be a configurable behavior at the first relay. The configuration at Relay SHOULD be further granular to indicate the situation under which relay should initiate the release e.g. administratively clearing DHCP binding, client replaced, client moved, client unavailable, etc. Forwarding of the relay initiated release related messages SHOULD be a configurable behavior at the intermediate DHCP network devices. Acceptance of relay initiated release SHOULD also be a configurable behavior at the server. 2. Requirements Language The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119]. Gandhewar Expires April 3, 2016 [Page 4] Internet-Draft DHCP Relay Initiated Release October 2015 3. New Message and Option Value Definitions This document specifies 2 new DHCP message types (option 53 from Section 9.6 of [RFC2132]): o DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY o DHCPRELAYREPLY The format of these messages is same as defined in [RFC2131]. This document specifies 2 new values for the Status Code Option (option 151 from Section 6.2.2 of [RFC6926]): o NoBinding o NotConfigured 3.1. DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY This message MAY be generated by the first DHCP network device ("DHCP Relay 1" in Figure 1), on behalf of the DHCP client. This gives an indication to the server that the client binding can be cleared. 3.2. DHCPRELAYREPLY This is the reply from DHCP server in response to the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message. The server conveys success or failure of the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY. 3.3. NoBinding When the server does not find the binding for which DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY is received, it uses this new value in the Status Code Option. 3.4. NotConfigured When the server is not configured to accept DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY, it uses this new value in the Status Code Option. 4. Functionality The generation of a DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message SHOULD be a configurable behavior at the DHCP relay. Taking action to release the binding SHOULD also be a configurable behavior at the server and intermediate DHCP network devices. Depending upon the configuration, the server responds with DHCPRELAYREPLY Gandhewar Expires April 3, 2016 [Page 5] Internet-Draft DHCP Relay Initiated Release October 2015 4.1. First DHCP Network Device Behavior Devices MAY be configured to generate the newly defined DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message. The first DHCP network device ("DHCP Relay 1" in Figure 1) can be configured such that when it detects the client is no longer on the network or is replaced or the binding information needs to be deleted administratively, the device can generate the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message. In order to generate the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message this network device needs to store the information related to the client, e.g. hardware address, client identifier, server identifier and giaddr used while obtaining client lease. 4.1.1. Generation and Transmission of DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY Message This new message is similar to the DHCPRELEASE generated by the client, as explained in [RFC2131]. The construction of the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY is similar to the construction of any other DHCP messages as described in Section 4.1 of [RFC2131]. Note that this message is generated on behalf of the DHCP client hence all the fields in the message MUST be with respect to the client, as if it was generated by the client. Set the following fields in the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message: o op - MUST be set to BOOTREQUEST o xid - MUST be filled as a random number o chaddr - MUST be filled with hardware address of the client on whose behalf the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY is being sent o ciaddr - MUST be filled with client's network address o giaddr - MUST be filled and SHOULD be same as what was used when client obtained the lease Include the following options in the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message: o DHCP message type - MUST be included as DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY o Client identifier - if the client had used this option while obtaining the lease, it MUST include this option with the same value Gandhewar Expires April 3, 2016 [Page 6] Internet-Draft DHCP Relay Initiated Release October 2015 o Server identifier - MUST be included and SHOULD be same as what was used when client obtained the lease o Relay Agent Information Option 82 - MAY include this option [RFC3046] with the same value as what was used while obtaining the lease DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY SHOULD be sent as unicast message to the server. 4.1.2. Receipt of DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY Message In order to protect against spoofed DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY messages attempting to disconnect the clients, the first DHCP network device SHOULD drop any received DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY messages. It MUST be a configurable behavior if these messages are from the trusted sources and needs to be forwarded to the server. 4.1.3. Receipt of DHCPRELAYREPLY Message If xid of the DHCPRELAYREPLY does not match with the xid of the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY which was sent, DHCPRELAYREPLY MUST be silently dropped. The first DHCP network device ("DHCP Relay 1" in Figure 1), upon receipt of a valid DHCPRELAYREPLY message from the server, considers the completion of DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY event. The action at this device is based on the Status Code Option. In the absence of Status Code Option or if the value is Success or NoBinding, then this device MUST clear the binding. If the Status Code is not Success or NoBinding, those client bindings MUST remain until the lease expires. If DHCPRELAYREPLY from the DHCP server is lost then the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY will be retransmitted, and the server MAY respond with a DHCPRELAYREPLY indicating a Status Code as NoBinding. Therefore, in this message exchange, the relay SHOULD NOT treat a DHCPRELAYREPLY message with a Status Code of NoBinding as an error. 4.1.4. Receiving No Response The DHCP relay does not receive a response from the server if the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY or DHCPRELAYREPLY message is lost. In such cases, relay SHOULD resend the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message to the server using a backoff algorithm for the retry time that approximates an exponential backoff. Depending on the network bandwidth between the relay and the server, the relay SHOULD choose a delay. This delay grows exponentially as retransmissions fail. The number of Gandhewar Expires April 3, 2016 [Page 7] Internet-Draft DHCP Relay Initiated Release October 2015 retransmissions SHOULD be limited. The exponential backoff algorithm is specified in Section 4.1 of [RFC3046]. 4.2. DHCP Server Behavior DHCP server ("DHCP Server" in Figure 1) SHOULD be configurable either to accept or reject the newly defined DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message. 4.2.1. Receipt of DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY Message If the DHCP server does not support the new message type then it can simply drop the packet. If the server is not configured to accept this relay initiated DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message then it can simply drop the packet or send DHCPRELAYREPLY with status code as NotConfigured. The server MAY be configured to restrict itself from accepting this message with the same giaddr which was used while obtaining the lease (DISCOVER-OFFER_REQUEST-ACK message exchange). If server decides not to accept the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message from a particular relay, it can simply drop the packet or send DHCPRELAYREPLY with status code as NotAllowed. On receipt of a valid and acceptable DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message, if configuration allows, server MAY decide to clear the binding as explained in Section 4.3.4 of [RFC2131]. Server MUST send a DHCPRELAYREPLY message to the relay. If the server does not find the binding for which it received the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message, it MUST send the DHCPRELAYREPLY with status code as Nobinding. 4.2.2. Generation and Transmission of DHCPRELAYREPLY Message Construction of the DHCPRELAYREPLY is similar to construction of any other DHCP messages as described in Section 4.1 of [RFC2131]. This message is similar to DHCPACK which is generated by the server, as explained in [RFC2131]. Set the following fields in the DHCPRELAYREPLY message: o op - MUST be set to BOOTREPLY o xid - MUST be copied from DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY o chaddr - MUST be copied from DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY Gandhewar Expires April 3, 2016 [Page 8] Internet-Draft DHCP Relay Initiated Release October 2015 o ciaddr - MUST be filled with client's network address o giaddr - MUST be copied from DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY Include the following options in the DHCPRELAYREPLY message: o DHCP message type - MUST be included as DHCPRELAYREPLY o Client identifier - MUST be copied from DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY o Server identifier - MUST be copied from DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY o Relay Agent Information Option 82 - if present, MUST be copied from DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY o Status Code - MAY include the option depending upon the result DHCPRELAYREPLY MUST be sent as unicast message to the address of the relay as recorded in DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY. 5. Security Considerations DHCP protocol as defined in [RFC2131] provides no authentication or security mechanisms. Potential exposure to attacks are discussed in Section 7 of the DHCP protocol specification in [RFC2131]. Unauthorized and malicious network device MAY spoof and send the false DHCPRELEASE message. Similarly unauthorized and malicious network device MAY spoof and send the false DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message. A defense using the authentication for DHCP messages [RFC3118] SHOULD be deployed where the networks are not secure or not directly under the control of the server administrator. The DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY and DHCPRELAYREPLY messages SHOULD be authenticated using the procedures described in [RFC3118]. However, implementation of authentication is not a MUST to support DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY and DHCPRELAYREPLY messages. Although DHCP network devices that send the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message perform the functions of a DHCP relay, essentially they are DHCP clients for the purposes of the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message. Thus, [RFC3118] is an appropriate mechanism for DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY message authentication. Since [RFC3118] discusses the normal DHCP client interaction, consisting of a DHCPDISCOVER, DHCPOFFER, DHCPREQUEST, and DHCPACK, it is necessary to transpose the operations described in [RFC3118] to the DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY domain. The operations described in [RFC3118] for DHCPDISCOVER are performed for DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY, and the Gandhewar Expires April 3, 2016 [Page 9] Internet-Draft DHCP Relay Initiated Release October 2015 operations described for DHCPOFFER are performed for DHCPRELAYREPLY message. 6. IANA Considerations We request IANA to assign following new message types from the registry of Message Types 53 Values maintained in: http://www.iana.org/assignments/bootp-dhcp-parameters/ o DHCPRELEASEBYRELAY o DHCPRELAYREPLY We request IANA to assign following new Status Code values from the registry of Status Codes Type 151 Values maintained in: http://www.iana.org/assignments/bootp-dhcp-parameters/ o NoBinding o NotConfigured 7. Acknowledgements We would like to acknowledge Utae Kim (Smart GiGA Network Project, Korea Telekom), Dan Seibel (Sr. Engineer, TELUS), Ian Farrer (Network Architect, Deutsche Telekom) and Chris Topazi (Access Engineering, Cox Communications) for their valuable contributions, suggestions and support for this document. We would like to thank Bernie Volz, Ted Lemon, Andrew Sullivan, Ole Troan and Shrivinas Joshi for their valuable comments and suggestions for improving the document. Many thanks to Tomek Mrugalski, Bernie Volz and Jaya Bhawtankar (Lead Engineer, Coriant) for their support. We would like to acknowledge Anand Vijayvergiya, Jeff Haas and Ross Callon for their guidance and tirelessly reviewing the document multiple times. 8. References 8.1. Normative References [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997, . Gandhewar Expires April 3, 2016 [Page 10] Internet-Draft DHCP Relay Initiated Release October 2015 8.2. Informative References [RFC2131] Droms, R., "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol", RFC 2131, DOI 10.17487/RFC2131, March 1997, . [RFC2132] Alexander, S. and R. Droms, "DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor Extensions", RFC 2132, DOI 10.17487/RFC2132, March 1997, . [RFC3046] Patrick, M., "DHCP Relay Agent Information Option", RFC 3046, DOI 10.17487/RFC3046, January 2001, . [RFC3118] Droms, R. and W. Arbaugh., Ed., "Authentication for DHCP Messages", RFC 3118, DOI 10.17487/RFC3118, June 2001, . [RFC6926] Kinnear, K., Stapp, M., Desetti, R., Joshi, B., Russell, N., Kurapati, P., and B. Volz, "DHCPv4 Bulk Leasequery", RFC 6926, DOI 10.17487/RFC6926, April 2013, . Author's Address Sunil M. Gandhewar Juniper Networks, Inc. Email: sgandhewar@juniper.net Gandhewar Expires April 3, 2016 [Page 11]