RFC 4283

Mobile Node Identifier Option for Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6)

📅 published December 2005, from ietf

Part 1 of 2 🎀 RFC 4283

Okay bestie, this is RFC 4283 and it's giving identity crisis fixed ✨ Part 1 covers the title block, the status stuff, the intro, the option format, and the processing rules. Part 2 is the security and IANA parts. Let's go 🦋

RFC number: 4283
Title: Mobile Node Identifier Option for Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6)
Group: Network Working Group
Category: Standards Track 💜
Date: November 2005
Obsoletes / Updates: the header doesn't list anything, so this one doesn't obsolete or update any other RFC 🙈
Authors: Alpesh Patel (Cisco Systems), Kent Leung (Cisco Systems), Mohamed Khalil (Nortel Networks), Haseeb Akhtar (Nortel Networks), Kuntal Chowdhury (Starent Networks) 🫶

Status of This Memo 📋

Okay so this one is an Internet standards track protocol for the whole Internet community 🌈 They're also asking everyone to chat about it and send ideas for making it better. For the current standardization state and status, go check the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" document (STD 1). And distribution is unlimited, so share away 💅

Copyright Notice ©️

Abstract 🧚

Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6) brings in a brand new Mobility header, and mobile nodes, correspondent nodes, and home agents all use it for every message about making and managing bindings 🦋 By default, a mobile node is identified by its home IP address, but sometimes that's not enough. Mobile IPv6 nodes need to be able to identify themselves with something else. Some examples are the Network Access Identifier (NAI), the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), the International Mobile Station Identifier (IMSI), and the Mobile Subscriber Number (MSISDN) 🍓

This document defines a new mobility option. Mobile IPv6 entities can use it to say who they are in any message that carries a mobility header 🔥

Table of Contents 🗂️

1. Introduction ....................................................2
2. Terminology .....................................................3
3. Mobile Node Identifier Option ...................................3
   3.1. MN-NAI Mobility Option .....................................4
   3.2. Processing Considerations ..................................4
4. Security Considerations .........................................4
   4.1. General Considerations .....................................4
   4.2. MN-NAI Considerations ......................................4
5. IANA Considerations .............................................5
6. Acknowledgements ................................................5
7. Normative References ............................................5
8. Informative Reference ...........................................6

1. Introduction 💖

Okay so the base Mobile IPv6 spec [RFC3775] identifies mobility entities by their IPv6 address. That's fine, but we really need a way to identify them with other stuff too 🫶 Like a Network Access Identifier (NAI) [RFC4282], an International Mobile Station Identifier (IMSI), or an identifier that's specific to an application or deployment that doesn't need to be understood by anyone else (opaque, bestie) ✨

Being able to identify a mobility entity with something besides its IPv6 address is super useful for a bunch of stuff, like:

authentication and authorization using an existing AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting) infrastructure, or via an HLR/AuC (Home Location Register/Authentication Center) 🔐
dynamic allocation of a mobility anchor point 🎀
dynamic allocation of a home address 🏡

This document defines an option with a subtype number that tells you what kind of identifier you're dealing with. The NAI is one instance of the subtype, and it's defined in Section 3.1 🌸 People expect other identifiers to get defined for the mobility header later on, so keep an eye out 👀

This option SHOULD be used when Internet Key Exchange (IKE)/IPsec is not used for protecting binding updates or binding acknowledgements as specified in [RFC3775]. It's typically used along with the authentication option [RFC4285]. But this option may be used independently too. For example, the identifier can provide accounting and billing services 💅💸

2. Terminology 📖

The keywords "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119]. 🤓

3. Mobile Node Identifier Option 🦋

Okay this is the main event! The Mobile Node Identifier option is a brand new optional data field 🎀 It rides along in the Mobile IPv6-defined messages that include the Mobility header. There are lots of forms of identifiers you can use to identify a Mobile Node (MN). Two examples are a Network Access Identifier (NAI) [RFC4282] and an opaque identifier that's specific to some application. The Subtype field is what says which exact type of identifier you've got 🧚

This option can be used in any mobility messages that have a mobility header. The subtype field tells you how to read the specific type of identifier 💜

    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 Type  | Option Length |
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
    |  Subtype      |          Identifier ...
    +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

Here's the breakdown of each field 🔍

Option Type: MN-ID-OPTION-TYPE has been assigned value 8 by the IANA. It's an 8-bit identifier of the type mobility option. 🌈
Option Length: an 8-bit unsigned integer, representing the length in octets of the Subtype and Identifier fields. 📏
Subtype: the Subtype field defines the specific type of identifier included in the Identifier field. 🏷️
Identifier: a variable length identifier of a type, as specified by the Subtype field of this option. 🪪

This option does not have any alignment requirements. No stress 🫧

3.1. MN-NAI Mobility Option 🪄

The MN-NAI mobility option uses the general format of the Mobile Node Identifier option that we just covered in Section 3. This option uses the subtype value of 1, and it's how you identify the mobile node 🦋

The MN-NAI mobility option uses an identifier of the form user@realm [RFC4282]. This option MUST be implemented by the entities implementing this specification. No exceptions, periodt 💅

3.2. Processing Considerations 🧭

Here's where the option goes. When it's present, this option MUST appear before any authentication-related option in a message containing a Mobility header. Put it in the right spot, bestie 🫶

Full Copyright Statement 💖

okay so the legal stuff, bestie 🎀 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). ✨

This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights. 📜

💅 Warning, this part is serious: this document and the information in it are provided on an "AS IS" basis, and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. 🙈

Intellectual Property 🦋

ngl this part is about who owns what 👑 The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in this document, or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available. It also does not represent that it has made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be found in BCP 78 and BCP 79. 🌸

Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat, and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this specification, can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr. 💜

The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org. 🫶

Acknowledgement 🧚

last bit, and it's sweet ✨ Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the Internet Society. 🌈

📦 where this page comes from

ietf: rfc4283 2005-12
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