% % Sorry to barge in with a technical, standards-related question. It % seems that there is a common practice that when a host asks for an % IPv4 address, such as through DHCP, but the host isn't attached to % the network, that the software gives it an address of 169.254.x.y. Is % this documented in any RFC? Should it be? % % --Paul Hoffman, Director % --VPN Consortium %
It was documented a year after its delegation in a now expired draft by Richard Troll. There is an RFC that describes problems with auto configuration using this prefix. There is also a current draft in/from zeroconf that talks about this prefix. I've had a draft that describes this prefix killed a couple of times by the IESG/IAB. The prefix was originally delegated after the LA IETF. You'll find a brief mention of the action on the last page fo the DHCP wg minutes. -- --bill