RFC 3898

RFC 3898: NIS Configuration Options for DHCPv6 💖

Part 1 of 2 🎀

Okay bestie, this is RFC 3898, and it's giving Network Information Service (NIS) Configuration Options for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6) ✨ It was written by V. Kalusivalingam, and the Author's Address section lists the name as Vijayabhaskar A Kalusivalingam at Cisco Systems (India) Private Limited 🌸 It's a Standards Track document from October 2004. The header doesn't list anything it obsoletes or updates, so it's a clean slate 🧚

Status of this Memo

This document is a Standards Track protocol spec for the Internet community, and it's asking for discussion and suggestions 💅 If you want to know where the protocol stands, check the current edition of "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1). The distribution of this memo is unlimited 🦋

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). 🌈

Abstract

Okay so the abstract is the whole plot in one breath 💖 This doc describes four options for NIS-related configuration info in DHCPv6: NIS Servers, NIS+ Servers, NIS Client Domain Name, and NIS+ Client Domain name 🫶

1. Introduction 🌸

Bestie, the intro says it again: four options for passing NIS configuration info [3] over DHCPv6 (RFC 3315 [1]) 💜

The options here can ONLY be used for NIS servers you can reach over IPv6 🔥 The DHCP option for IPv4 NIS servers lives in RFC 2132 [4] 🍓 Dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 setups are being considered, but this doc doesn't specify them, so no spoilers 🙈

2. Terminology 💅

The key words MUST, MUST NOT, REQUIRED, SHALL, SHALL NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, RECOMMENDED, MAY, and OPTIONAL in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14, RFC 2119 [2]. ⭐

Throughout this document, unless otherwise specified, the acronym DHCP refers to DHCP as specified in RFC 3315. 🌸

This doc uses IPv6 and DHCP terminology as defined in section "Terminology" of RFC 3315. 🦋

3. Network Information Service (NIS) Servers Option ✨

The NIS Servers option gives the client a list of one or more IPv6 addresses of NIS servers. It's giving ordered list energy: Clients MUST treat the list of NIS servers as an ordered list. The server MAY list the NIS servers in the order of preference. 💖

Here's the layout, bestie 🧚

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |      OPTION_NIS_SERVERS       |         option-len            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                   NIS server (IPv6 address)                   |
   |                                                               |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                   NIS server (IPv6 address)                   |
   |                                                               |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                              ...                              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

And the fields, verbatim 🎀

   option-code:  OPTION_NIS_SERVERS (27)

   option-len:   Length of the 'NIS server' fields in octets; It must be
                 a multiple of 16

   NIS server:   IPv6 address of NIS server

4. Network Information Service V2 (NIS+) Servers Option 🦋

The NIS+ Servers option (it's the V2 one, iykyk) gives the client a list of one or more IPv6 addresses of NIS+ servers. Same vibe as before: Clients MUST treat the list of NIS+ servers as an ordered list. The server MAY list the NIS+ servers in the order of preference. 👑

The format is below 🌈

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |      OPTION_NISP_SERVERS      |         option-len            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                   NIS+ server (IPv6 address)                  |
   |                                                               |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                                                               |
   |                   NIS+ server (IPv6 address)                  |
   |                                                               |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                              ...                              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Fields, verbatim 🍓

   option-code: OPTION_NISP_SERVERS (28)

   option-len:  Length of the 'NIS+ server' fields in octets; It must be
                a multiple of 16

   NIS+ server: IPv6 address of NIS+ server

5. Network Information Service (NIS) Domain Name Option 🎀

The NIS Domain Name option is how the server passes the client's NIS Domain Name info to the client. Lowkey simple, highkey important 💖

Here's the format ✨

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |    OPTION_NIS_DOMAIN_NAME     |         option-len            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                       nis-domain-name                         |
   |                              ...                              |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Fields, verbatim 💅

   option-code:      OPTION_NIS_DOMAIN_NAME (29)

   option-len:       Length of the 'nis-domain-name' field in octets
   nis-domain-name:  NIS Domain name for client

The 'nis-domain-name' MUST be encoded as specified in section "Representation and Use of domain names" of the DHCPv6 specification [1]. 🔥

Main character rule: the nis-domain-name MUST be encoded the way the DHCPv6 spec says in "Representation and Use of domain names" [1], no freestyling 💀

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Part 2 picks up at Section 6 with the NIS+ Domain Name option 🦋💖

Intellectual Property ✨

Okay so, the IETF is not picking sides on whether anyone's IPR (intellectual property rights, the "that's mine" kind of stuff 💅) is valid or how far it reaches. It also isn't saying whether any licenses for that tech actually exist or are easy to get. And no, it didn't go hunting for every possible right either, so don't assume it did 🙈. If you want the full rundown on how the IETF handles rights in its documents, check out BCP 78 and BCP 79. Those are the real source. 📚

Any IPR disclosures sent to the IETF Secretariat are stored in the IETF's online IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr. The same goes for any licensing assurances that have been promised, plus whatever came out of someone trying to get a general license or permission to use proprietary tech. So if you're an implementer or user of this spec and you want to know what's up, that's where to look 🫶.

The IETF also really wants to hear from anyone who knows about copyrights, patents, patent applications, or other proprietary rights that might cover technology needed to implement this standard. Send that info to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org. Bestie, please don't be shy about flagging stuff 🌸.

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Acknowledgement 🎀

Shoutout to the Internet Society, because they're the ones currently funding the RFC Editor function 💖🌈.