yes, right. thats what i meant too. :-) the purpose is only for indication.

"the presence of a fragment header is used in NAT-PT IPv4->IPv6 to *indicate that 
the packet is fragmentable."

*the error i made is "NAT-PT IPv4->IPv6" which should have been "NAT-PT 
IPv6->IPv4". error regretted! :-)

regards
radhakrishnan*
*



Vishwas Manral wrote:

Hi Radhakrishnan,

I think that having a fragment header does not mean that it is a fragment. The 
document for SIIT RFC2765, in Section 3 states that: -

"Also, when the IPv4 sender does not perform path MTU discovery the translator MUST 
always include an IPv6 fragment header to indicate that the sender allows fragmentation.  
That is needed should the packet pass through an IPv6-to-IPv4 translator."

That is why I think that having a fragment header does not mean that it is a 
fragment. It just signals the equivalent of the DF bit in case the packet is 
translated to IPv4.

Thanks,
Vishwas
________________________________________
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Radhakrishnan.S
Sent: Friday, November 25, 2005 7:32 AM
To: ipv6@ietf.org
Subject: Re: Fragment Header

That said; how should the case where we have the fragment header and both the 
Fragment Offset and the M flag is 0 be treated?
=> The one and only fragment.  :-) Doesnt make sense unless u want to test the 
reassembling capability of the receiver of the fragments. The presence of a fragment 
header is used in NAT-PT IPv4->IPv6 to indicate that the packet is fragmentable. 
(case where DF bit is NOT set in IPv4 header).

Why do we need the M flag in the "fragment header" at all for IPv6? Having the 
fragment header itself would tell it's a fragment and would distinguish between the first 
fragment and a non-fragment.
=> M flag is used to distinguish last frag from others!!!! Its used for identifying the last frag when computing the length during reassembly.




Vishwas Manral wrote: Hi folks,

I have a doubt regarding the fragment header. Why do we need the M flag in the 
"fragment header" at all for IPv6? Having the fragment header itself would tell 
it's a fragment and would distinguish between the first fragment and a non-fragment.

In IPv4 we did not have a fragment header, so the M flag was logical to have 
for distinguishing the first and a non fragment.

That said; how should the case where we have the fragment header and both the 
Fragment Offset and the M flag is 0 be treated?

Thanks,
Vishwas


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