On Sun, Oct 28, 2007 at 04:22:27PM -0400, Ralph Droms wrote:
> The only reference to fragmentation in RFC 951 is:
> 
> 3. Packet Format
> 
>    [...] For
>    simplicity it is assumed that the BOOTP packet is never fragmented.
> 
> There are no references to fragmentation in RFC 213[12] or RFC 3315.
> 
> In my opinion, this reference is to simplicity in the IP layer, not  
> in the BOOTP layer.  The IP layer handles any fragmentation and the  
> BOOTP/DHCP layers are unaware of that fragmentation.  Therefore, any  
> addresses included in the DHCP messages are irrelevant to BOOTP/DHCP  
> message reassembly.

I don't think IP layer can correctly reassemble IP datagrams with the
unspecified source address (0.0.0.0) which breaks uniqueness of
fragments among multiple *different* source nodes.

> 
> On the other hand, as I wrote in a previous message, all bets are off  
> regarding L2 (or other) devices that snoop the DHCP messages without  
> performing IP reassembly.

Sure, this is another issue.

> 
> And, as a practical matter, I suspect all extant DHCP clients and  
> servers have a DHCP message MTU less than 1500 octets.

For the above reasons, DHCP message should not be IP-fragmented.
However, DHCP message MTU being not more than link-layer MTU can be a
non-workable requirement when carrying EAP, considering the fact that
EAP can consume up to 1020 octets and additionally other options need
to be carried in a DHCP message.

Yoshihiro Ohba


> 
> - Ralph
> 
> 
> On Oct 25, 2007, at Oct 25, 2007,8:28 PM, Yoshihiro Ohba wrote:
> 
> >Isn't DHCP designed based on the same assumption as BOOTP in terms of
> >IP fragmentation?  BOOTP assumes that BOOTP messages are never
> >fragmented according RFC 951.
> >
> >An issue with fragmenting DHCP message I can think of is that a DHCP
> >relay agent or server may not be able to correctly reassemble
> >fragmented messages when simultaneously received from multiple DHCP
> >clients if the source address of those messages is unspecified
> >(0.0.0.0).  How does DHCP address this issue?
> >
> >Note: DHCPv6 does not have this issue because a specified address is
> >always used.
> >
> >Yoshihiro Ohba
> >
> >
> >On Wed, Oct 24, 2007 at 05:03:01PM -0400, Ralph Droms wrote:
> >>Sorry, I made a goof.  Relay agents can forward fragmented DHCP
> >>messages.  There is, if I recall correctly, a recommendation against
> >>fragmentation (perhaps RFC 2131); however, the stack on the node
> >>where the relay agent is instantiated will re-assemble the DHCP
> >>message before delivering it to the relay agent, and then re-fragment
> >>the new DHCP message resent by the relay agent.
> >>
> >>- Ralph
> >>
> >>On Oct 24, 2007, at Oct 24, 2007,4:54 PM, Ralph Droms wrote:
> >>
> >>>Section 6.3 of draft-pruss-dhcp-auth-dsl-01 addresses how to fit
> >>>the EAP info into DHCP options, using RFC 3396.
> >>>
> >>>However, there is also a recommendation, when using EAP, that the
> >>>server set the "Maximum DHCP Message Size" option to 1604.  Sending
> >>>a DHCP message of this size may require fragmentation, but DHCP
> >>>relay agents cannot forward fragmented DHCP messages.
> >>>
> >>>- Ralph
> >>>
> >>>On Oct 24, 2007, at Oct 24, 2007,4:36 PM, Richard Pruss wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>Stig Venaas wrote, around 24/10/07 7:23 PM:
> >>>>>It's not as simple as just putting credentials into option 82
> >>>>>though.
> >>>>>For one thing there are strict limits on the size of DHCP
> >>>>>messages that
> >>>>>will limit what EAP or other mechanisms you can use. When the EAP
> >>>>>MTU is too small for the EAP message, you need multiple  
> >>>>>requests and
> >>>>>responses to transport the message. This is not possible without
> >>>>>major DHCP changes. Hence you are not free to use what EAP
> >>>>>mechanisms
> >>>>>or credentials you like without major changes to DHCP. While with
> >>>>>say
> >>>>>PANA you could do that.
> >>>>>
> >>>>Stig section 6.3 of the currently posted -01 draft addresses the
> >>>>size issue of EAP in some detail, it is not clear if you are
> >>>>saying the proposed mechanism would not work.
> >>>>
> >>>>Regardless of the mechanism if one thinks of this from the
> >>>>implementation it should be no big deal as for EAP and RADIUS one
> >>>>has to chop EAP into small enough chunks to get through
> >>>>limitations in RADIUS (<253 bytes). While DHCP has similar
> >>>>problems (<255 bytes), and one could can expect that most
> >>>>networking companies would have implemented the lower common
> >>>>denominator of RADIUS here.
> >>>>
> >>>>Regards,
> >>>>Ric
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
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> >>>
> >>>
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> >>
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> 


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