Hi,I'm currently holding a discuss on draft-stjohns-sipso, because I fundamentally question if this is a document the IETF should publish. The discuss is not actionable, i.e., I don't see any way to "fix" the document, so I'm deliberating what to do. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this situation.
In short, draft-stjohns-sipso asks for an IPv6 hop-by-hop option number for use in Multi-Level Security (MLS) networking environments, i.e., mostly governmental and military networks that use IP technology but are not "the Internet". MLS networking is standardized outside the IETF, and (in my opinion) diverges significantly from the Internet architecture, to the point where IETF transport and application protocols cannot generally be used on an MLS network without changes, or without trusted proxies that translate protocol flavors.
Should the IETF allocate option numbers for extensions to our fundamental protocols (in this case, IPv6) that are targeted solely at private walled-garden networks? Note that in addition to draft-stjohns- sipso, we have been receiving liaison statements from the ITU-T, which would also like an IPv6 hop-by-hop option number for their walled garden, so our decision on draft-stjohns-sipso might set a precedent.
A secondary concern is that this document resurrects IPv4 technology that has been declared Historic for continued use with IPv6, and in the meantime, the IETF has designed better protocol mechanisms that would arguably address the same set of requirements (for example, L3VPN). I understand the argument that the MLS architecture specifications require this sort of approach, but the ITU-T architecture has also in the past been used to argue for inferior technical solutions, and the IETF has chosen to not pursue those.
I'd like to ask for your thoughts on what the IETF should do here.(Also: Thank you, Ran, for already having taken the time to discuss this at some length. Much appreciated.)
Thanks, Lars
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