Thanks Hannes for the detailed review. I raised a PR
https://github.com/smyslov/ikev2-reliable-transport/pull/8 to address the
comments; please have a look.

-Tiru

On Tue, 28 Apr 2026 at 22:48, Hannes Tschofenig <[email protected]>
wrote:

> Thanks for the work, Tiru & Valery.
>
>
> I have a few minor comments:
>
> 1. I believe you should put the Updates "RFC 9329" statement into the
> boilerplate. RFC 9329 defines TCP transport for IKEv2 messages and you
> are extending the functionality with this draft. Particularly the text
> in Section 4.1 appears to make such a statement in the frontpage of the
> document necessary.
>
> 2. In Section 3.7 you write:
>
> "
>     If no ESP
>     Echo Reply is received after exhausting the retransmissions described
>     below, the peers MUST switch ESP to TCP as specified in [RFC9329].
> "
>
> I am uncertain what text you are referring to regarding "described below".
>
> How about:
>
> "
> If the initiator performs ESP reachability verification and receives no
> ESP Echo Reply after its configured retry procedure, it MUST switch ESP
> to TCP as specified in [RFC9329].
> "
>
> FWIW there is a dangling character at the end of this sentence:
>
> "
>     *  If a NAT was detected, the initiator MUST send the ESP Echo
>        Request using UDP encapsulation on port 4500 [RFC3948].I
> "
>
> 3. In Section 3.1, the initiator starts IKE_SA_INIT over UDP/4500, gets
> the SEPARATE_TRANSPORTS notification back, and then MUST switch
> subsequent IKE exchanges to TCP/4500. That proves UDP/4500 works, but
> not that TCP/4500 works across the path.
>
> What happens when TCP/4500 is blocked?
>
> 4. Encrypted ESP Echo Protocol
>
> Your draft uses ESP Echo Request as the specified verification mechanism
> in Section 3.7. To me it looks like I-D.ietf-ipsecme-encrypted-esp-ping
> is a normative reference.
>
> 5. Editorial issues
>
> Section 4.2: s/quicly/quickly
> Section 4.2: s/re-establish IKE SA/re-establish an IKE SA
> Section 4.2: s/Since network condition may change/Since network
> conditions may change
> “then, unless configured…” → remove “then”
> Section 4.2:
>
> FROM
> "
>     Since no large public keys are
>     transferred in the IKE_SESSION_RESUME exchange, then, unless
>     configured to use TCP only, the initiator, when resuming, MUST start
>     using UDP with destination port 4500, as discussed in Section 3.1.
> "
> TO:
>
> "
>     Since no large public keys are
>     transferred in the IKE_SESSION_RESUME exchange, unless
>     configured to use TCP only, the initiator, when resuming, MUST start
>     using UDP with destination port 4500, as discussed in Section 3.1.
> "
>
> This sentence sounds very complex to me. How about this version:
>
> "
> When resuming an IKE session, the initiator MUST start with UDP to
> destination port 4500, unless it is configured to use only TCP. This is
> because the IKE_SESSION_RESUME exchange does not transfer large public
> keys.
> "
>
> Did I understood the intention of the sentence correctly?
>
>
> Section 1:
>
> FROM
>
> "
>     Most of post-quantum
>     algorithms require IKE peers to exchange much more data, than
>     classical algorithms, up to tens (or even hundreds) Kbytes.
> "
>
> TO:
>
> "
>     Most post-quantum
>     algorithms require IKE peers to exchange much more data, than
>     classical algorithms, up to tens (or even hundreds) Kbytes.
> "
>
> Section 1:
>
> FROM:
>
> "
>     A few
>     proposals exist that allow to overcome the 64 Kbytes limitation on
>     the size of an IKE payload ([I-D.nir-ipsecme-big-payload],
>     [I-D.smyslov-ipsecme-ikev2-extended-pld],
>     [I-D.tjhai-ikev2-beyond-64k-limit]).
> "
>
> TO:
>
>
> "
>     A few
>     proposals exist that allow overcoming the 64 Kbytes limitation on
>     the size of an IKE payload ([I-D.nir-ipsecme-big-payload],
>     [I-D.smyslov-ipsecme-ikev2-extended-pld],
>     [I-D.tjhai-ikev2-beyond-64k-limit]).
> "
>
> Section 1:
>
> FROM:
>
> "
>     In this case larger amount of
>     data need to be sent in the IKE_SA_INIT exchange, that makes using
>     UDP problematic.
> "
>
> TO:
>
> "
>     In this case larger amount of
>     data needs to be sent in the IKE_SA_INIT exchange, that makes using
>     UDP problematic.
> "
>
> Section 1:
>
> FROM
>
> "
>     However, the current use of TCP for IKE and ESP
>     [RFC9329] implies that ESP SAs are also encapsulated in TCP, which
>     has negative impact on IPsec performance (see Section 9 of TCP
>     encapsulation of IKE and ESP packets [RFC9329]).
> "
>
> TO:
>
> "
>     However, the current use of TCP for IKE and ESP
>     [RFC9329] implies that ESP SAs are also encapsulated in TCP, which
>     has a negative impact on IPsec performance (see Section 9 of TCP
>     encapsulation of IKE and ESP packets [RFC9329]).
> "
>
> Section 1:
>
> FROM:
>
> "
>   This specification allows to decouple IKE and IPsec transports,
>     making it possible to use a reliable transport for IKEv2 while
>     continuing to use an unreliable transport for IPsec.
> "
>
> TO:
>
> "
>   This specification allows IKE and IPsec transports to be decoupled,
>   making it possible to use a reliable transport for IKEv2 while
>   continuing to use an unreliable transport for IPsec.
> "
>
> Section 3.1 and Section 3.2:
>
> To me the following wording is a bit better:
>
> s/ESP over UDP or IP depending on the presence of NATs/ESP directly over
> IP or ESP with UDP encapsulation - depending on the presence of NATs
>
>
> Section 3.2:
>
> FROM:
> "
>     In this case, both IKEv2 and ESP MUST use TCP transport for all
>     subsequent exchanges, as per TCP encapsulation of IKE and ESP packets
>     [RFC9329].
> "
>
> TO:
>
> "
>     In this case, both IKEv2 messages and ESP packets MUST be sent over
>     TCP as specified in [RFC9329].
>
> "
>
> Ciao
> Hannes
>
> Am 27.04.2026 um 14:57 schrieb Tero Kivinen via Datatracker:
> > This message starts a WG Last Call for:
> > draft-ietf-ipsecme-ikev2-reliable-transport-02
> >
> > This Working Group Last Call ends on 2026-05-11
> >
> > Abstract:
> >     The Internet Key Exchange protocol version 2 (IKEv2) can operate
> >     either over unreliable (UDP) transport or over reliable (TCP)
> >     transport.  If TCP is used, then IPsec tunnels created by IKEv2 also
> >     use TCP.  This document specifies how to decouple IKEv2 and IPsec
> >     transports so that IKEv2 can operate over TCP, while IPsec tunnels
> >     use unreliable transport.  This feature allows IKEv2 to effectively
> >     exchange large blobs of data (e.g., when post-quantum algorithms are
> >     employed) while avoiding performance problems that arise when IPsec
> >     uses TCP.
> >
> > File can be retrieved from:
> >
> > Please review and indicate your support or objection to proceed with the
> > publication of this document by replying to this email keeping
> [email protected]
> > in copy. Objections should be explained and suggestions to resolve them
> are
> > highly appreciated.
> >
> > Authors, and WG participants in general, are reminded of the Intellectual
> > Property Rights (IPR) disclosure obligations described in BCP 79 [1].
> > Appropriate IPR disclosures required for full conformance with the
> provisions
> > of BCP 78 [1] and BCP 79 [2] must be filed, if you are aware of any.
> > Sanctions available for application to violators of IETF IPR Policy can
> be
> > found at [3].
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> > [1] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/bcp78/
> > [2] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/bcp79/
> > [3] https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc6701/
> >
> > The IETF datatracker status page for this Internet-Draft is:
> >
> https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-ipsecme-ikev2-reliable-transport/
> >
> > There is also an HTMLized version available at:
> >
> https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-ipsecme-ikev2-reliable-transport-02
> >
> > A diff from the previous version is available at:
> >
> https://author-tools.ietf.org/iddiff?url2=draft-ietf-ipsecme-ikev2-reliable-transport-02
> >
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