RFC 5342

IANA Considerations and IETF Protocol Usage for IEEE 802 Parameters

📅 published September 2008, from ietf

IANA Considerations and IETF Protocol Usage for IEEE 802 Parameters 🦋

okay bestie, this is RFC 5342 🎀 and it's a Best Current Practice (BCP 141) 💅. D. Eastlake 3rd from Eastlake Enterprises wrote it in September 2008 for the Network Working Group. It updates RFC 2153 ✨, and the title block doesn't list anything it obsoletes. Rewrite part 1 of 4 incoming 💖

Status of This Memo 🌸

this one is a Best Current Practice for the Internet Community 🫶 and it's basically asking everyone to talk about it and suggest improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited, so share it with everyone 💜

Abstract ✨

okay so some IETF protocols use Ethernet frame formats and IEEE 802 parameters 🧚 this doc talks about how those parameters get used in IETF protocols, and it lays out the IANA considerations for handing out code points under the IANA OUI (Organizationally Unique Identifier) 🔥

Table of Contents 💖

   1. Introduction ....................................................3
      1.1. Notations Used in This Document ............................3
      1.2. The IEEE Registration Authority ............................3
           1.2.1. The IANA OUI ........................................4
      1.3. Acknowledgements ...........................................4
   2. Ethernet Identifier Parameters ..................................4
      2.1. 48-Bit MAC Identifiers and OUIs ............................4
           2.1.1. EUI-48 Allocations under the IANA OUI ...............5
           2.1.2. EUI-48 IANA Allocation Considerations ...............5
      2.2. 64-Bit MAC Identifiers .....................................6
           2.2.1. IPv6 Use of Modified EUI-64 Identifiers .............6
           2.2.2. EUI-64 IANA Allocation Considerations ...............8
      2.3. Other MAC-48 Identifiers Used by IETF ......................9
           2.3.1. Identifiers Prefixed 33-33 ..........................9
           2.3.2. The 'CF Series' ....................................10
                  2.3.2.1. Changes to RFC 2153 .......................10
   3. Ethernet Protocol Parameters ...................................10
      3.1. Ethernet Protocol Allocation under the IANA OUI ...........12
   4. Other OUI-Based Parameters .....................................13
   5. IANA Considerations ............................................13
      5.1. Expert Review and IESG Ratification .......................14
      5.2. Informational IANA Web Page Material ......................15
      5.3. OUI Exhaustion ............................................15
   6. Security Considerations ........................................15
   7. Normative References ...........................................15
   8. Informative References .........................................16
   Appendix A.  Templates ............................................18
      A.1. EUI-48/EUI-64 Identifier or Identifier Block Template .....18
      A.2. 5-Octet Ethernet Protocol Identifier Template .............18
      A.3. Other IANA OUI-Based Parameter Template ...................19
   Appendix B. Ethertypes ............................................19
      B.1. Some Ethertypes Specified by The IETF .....................19
      B.2. Some IEEE 802 Ethertypes ..................................20

1. Introduction ✨

okay so some IETF protocols use Ethernet or other [IEEE] 802 related communication frame formats and parameters [IEEE802] 🧚 these include MAC (Media Access Control) identifiers and protocol identifiers 💅

this document lays out the IANA considerations for allocating code points under the IANA OUI 🦋 and it also talks about some other ways the IETF uses IEEE 802 code points 🌈

[RFC5226] is incorporated herein except where there are contrary provisions in this document 🫶

1.1. Notations Used in This Document 🎀

this doc uses hexadecimal notation 🍓 each octet (that is, 8-bit byte) gets written as two hex digits that give the octet's value as an unsigned integer, and successive octets are separated by a hyphen 💖 this doc consistently uses IETF bit ordering, even though the physical order of bit transmission within an octet on an IEEE [802.3] link goes from the lowest order bit to the highest order bit (so it's the reverse of the IETF's ordering) 🤯 bestie, the bit order thing is lowkey confusing but it's just the vibe here 🙈

in this document:

  • "IAB" stands for Individual Address Block, not for Internet Architecture Board 💜
  • "MAC" stands for Media Access Control, not for Message Authentication Code 💜
  • "OUI" stands for Organizationally Unique Identifier 💜

and "**" means exponentiation 🔥 so 2**24 is two to the twenty-fourth power ✨

1.2. The IEEE Registration Authority 👑

okay so the registration authority for Ethernet parameters used to be Xerox Corporation, but now it's the IEEE Registration Authority 🌸 you can find it on the web at:

http://standards.ieee.org/regauth/

anyone can apply to that Authority for parameters 💅 they're allowed to charge fees or have other requirements, but they usually waive fees for applications from standards development organizations 🫶

there's also a list of some allocated OUIs and IABs and their holders that you can download from the IEEE Registration Authority site 🧚

1.2.1. The IANA OUI 🦋

the OUI 00-00-5E has been allocated to IANA 💖

1.3. Acknowledgements 🌷

big thanks to the following people, listed in alphabetic order, for their contributions and support 🫶💜

Bernard Aboba, Scott O. Bradner, Ian Calder, Michelle Cotton, Lars Eggert, Eric Gray, Alfred Hoenes, Russ Housley, Charlie Kaufman, Erik Nordmark, Dan Romascanu, Mark Townsley, and Geoff Thompson 👑✨

2. Ethernet Identifier Parameters 🌈

section 2.1 is about EUI-48 (Extended Unique Identifier 48) MAC identifiers 🎀 how they relate to OUIs and IABs, and the allocations under the IANA OUI 💅 section 2.2 extends this to EUI-64 identifiers 🦋 and section 2.3 covers other IETF MAC identifier use that's not under the IANA OUI 🧚

2.1. 48-Bit MAC Identifiers and OUIs 💖

ngl, 48-bit MAC "addresses" are the most commonly used Ethernet interface identifiers 🔥 the globally unique ones are also called EUI-48 identifiers ✨ an EUI-48 has an initial 3-octet OUI (Organizationally Unique Identifier) followed by 3 more octets that the OUI holder assigns 💅

organizations that don't need 3 octets' worth of identifiers can get IABs (Individual Address Blocks) from the IEEE instead 🌸 for those, the first 4 1/2 octets (36 bits) are assigned, which gives the IAB holder 1 1/2 octets (12 bits) they can control 🍓

the IEEE explains its assignment procedures and policies for IEEE 802 related identifiers in [802_O&A] 📚

two bits in the first 3 octets of an EUI-48 are super special: the Group bit (01-00-00) and the Local bit (02-00-00) 💜 OUIs and IABs get allocated with the Local bit set to zero, and the Group bit is left unspecified 🫶 you turn the Group bit on to make a multicast identifier, and leave it zero for a unicast identifier 🦋

for globally unique EUI-48 identifiers that an OUI or IAB owner allocates, the Local bit is zero 💖 if the Local bit is a one, IEEE 802 treats the identifier as a local one that the local network administrator controls 🧚 if the Local bit is on, the OUI (or IAB) holder has no special authority over 48-bit MAC identifiers whose first 3 (or 4 1/2) octets match their OUI (or IAB) 🙈

2.1.1. EUI-48 Allocations under the IANA OUI 👑

the OUI 00-00-5E has been assigned to IANA, as we covered in Section 1.2.1 above ✨ that includes 224 EUI-48 multicast identifiers, from 01-00-5E-00-00-00 to 01-00-5E-FF-FF-FF, and 224 EUI-48 unicast identifiers, from 00-00-5E-00-00-00 to 00-00-5E-FF-FF-FF 🌈

here's what's been allocated out of those EUI-48 identifiers so far 🎀

  • the 2**23 multicast identifiers from 01-00-5E-00-00-00 through 01-00-5E-7F-FF-FF have been allocated for IPv4 multicast [RFC1112] 🦋
  • the 2**20 multicast identifiers from 01-00-5E-80-00-00 through 01-00-5E-8F-FF-FF have been allocated for MPLS multicast [RFC5332] 💖
  • the 2**8 unicast identifiers from 00-00-5E-00-00-00 through 00-00-5E-00-00-FF are reserved and require IESG Ratification for allocation (see Section 5.1) 🔥
  • the 2**8 unicast identifiers from 00-00-5E-00-01-00 through 00-00-5E-00-01-FF have been allocated for the Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) [RFC3768] 🧚

2.1.2. EUI-48 IANA Allocation Considerations 💅

EUI-48 allocations under the current or a future IANA OUI (see Section 5.2) must meet the following requirements 📚

  • must be for standards purposes (either for an IETF Standard or other standard related to IETF work),
  • must be for a block of a power-of-two identifiers starting at a boundary that is an equal or greater power of two, including the allocation of one (2**0) identifier,
  • must not be used to evade the requirement for vendors to obtain their own block of identifiers from the IEEE, and
  • must be documented in an Internet-Draft or RFC.

on top of that, approval has to be obtained as follows (see the procedure in Section 5.1) 🫶

  • small to medium allocations of a block of 1, 2, 4, ..., 32768, 65536 (20, 21, 22, ..., 215, 2**16) EUI-48 identifiers require Expert Review 🌸
  • large allocations of 131072 (2**17) or more EUI-48 identifiers require IESG Ratification (see Section 5.1) 👑

to keep record keeping simple, all future allocations of 256 (2**8) or fewer identifiers shall have the Group bit unspecified 💜 that means they're allocated as parallel, equal-size blocks of multicast and unicast identifiers, even if only one of those types is needed for the proposed use 🦋 the only exception is that requests for unicast-only identifier blocks of any size may be allocated out of the remaining identifiers in the large unicast range from 00-00-5E-00-02-00 to 00-00-5E-8F-FF-FF 🌈

2.2. 64-Bit MAC Identifiers 🧚

IEEE also defines a system of 64-bit MAC identifiers, including EUI-64s 🎀 honestly the uptake of these "MAC-64" identifiers has been pretty limited 🙈 they're currently used to construct some IPv6 Interface Identifiers (more on that below) and by these IEEE standards:

  • IEEE 1394 (also known as FireWire and i.Link) 🔥
  • IEEE 802.15.4 (also known as ZigBee) 🍓

adding a 5-octet (40-bit) extension to a 3-octet (24-bit) OUI forms an EUI-64 identifier under that OUI ✨ just like EUI-48 identifiers, the OUI has the same Group/unicast and Local/Global bits 💖

the discussion below is almost entirely about the "Modified" form of EUI-64 identifiers 🫶 but anyone who's been allocated one of these identifiers also has the unmodified form, and they may use it as a MAC identifier on any link that uses 64-bit identifiers for interfaces 💅

2.2.1. IPv6 Use of Modified EUI-64 Identifiers ✨

okay so MAC-64 identifiers are the ones that get used to build the lower 64 bits of some IPv6 addresses 🌸 (see Section 2.5.1 and Appendix A of [RFC4291], plus Appendix A of [RFC5214]). When they're used that way, the MAC-64 gets a glow-up: you invert the Local/Global bit, and boom, it becomes a "Modified EUI-64 identifier" 💅 Here's what one looks like under the IANA OUI, where aa-bb-cc-dd-ee is the extension:

      02-00-5E-aa-bb-cc-dd-ee

The first octet says 02 instead of 00, and that's on purpose 🦋 In Modified EUI-64 identifiers, the Local/Global bit means the opposite of what it means in EUI-48 identifiers. So the ones with that bit switched on in the first octet are the globally unique values (universal scope), and the ones with it switched off are locally assigned and out of scope for global allocation.

Why flip it? The Local/Global bit got inverted so network operators have an easier time typing in local-scope identifiers 🍓 That means Modified EUI-64 identifiers like 1, 2, and so on (ignoring leading zeros) are local. Without the flip, you'd have to type out 02-00-00-00-00-00-00-01, 02-00-00-00-00-00-00-02, and so on just to get the same local thing. Nobody has time for that, bestie 😭

Same as with MAC-48 identifiers, the 01 bit on in the first octet means it's a group identifier 🌈

When the first two octets of a Modified EUI-64 identifier's extension are FF-FE, the rest of the extension is a 24-bit value that the OUI owner assigned for an EUI-48. For example:

      02-00-5E-FF-FE-yy-yy-yy
   or
      03-00-5E-FF-FE-yy-yy-yy

Here yy-yy-yy is the part of an EUI-48 global unicast or multicast identifier that the OUI owner (IANA, in this case) assigns. So any holder of one or more EUI-48 identifiers under the IANA OUI also gets the same number of Modified EUI-64 identifiers, made by putting FF-FE in the middle of their EUI-48 identifiers and inverting the Local/Global bit. Two for one, iykyk 👑

(Note: [EUI-64] defines FF-FF as the bits to be inserted to create an IEEE EUI-64 identifier from a MAC-48 identifier. That document says the FF-FE value is used when starting with an EUI-48 identifier. The IETF uses only FF-FE to create Modified EUI-64 identifiers from 48-bit Ethernet station identifiers regardless of whether they are EUI-48 or MAC-48 local identifiers. EUI-48 and local MAC-48 identifiers are syntactically equivalent, and this doesn't cause any problems in practice.)

There are also some Modified EUI-64 identifiers under the IANA OUI that are reserved for holders of IPv4 addresses, like this:

      02-00-5E-FE-xx-xx-xx-xx

where xx-xx-xx-xx is a 32-bit IPv4 address. For Modified EUI-64 identifiers based on an IPv4 address, the Local/Global bit should be set to match whether that IPv4 address is local or global. (Keep in mind that the Local/Global bit works backwards in Modified EUI-64 identifiers compared with unmodified MAC-64 identifiers. Plot twist 🙈)

2.2.2. EUI-64 IANA Allocation Considerations 🎀

Here's a table showing which Modified EUI-64 identifiers under the IANA OUI are reserved, used, or available:

      02-00-5E-00-00-00-00-00 to 02-00-5E-0F-FF-FF-FF-FF reserved

      02-00-5E-10-00-00-00-00 to 02-00-5E-EF-FF-FF-FF-FF available for
         allocation

      02-00-5E-F0-00-00-00-00 to 02-00-5E-FD-FF-FF-FF-FF reserved

      02-00-5E-FE-00-00-00-00 to 02-00-5E-FE-FF-FF-FF-FF used by IPv4
         address holders as described above

      02-00-5E-FF-00-00-00-00 to 02-00-5E-FF-FD-FF-FF-FF reserved

      02-00-5E-FF-FE-00-00-00 to 02-00-5E-FF-FE-FF-FF-FF used by holders
         of EUI-48 identifiers under the IANA OUI as described above

      02-00-5E-FF-FF-00-00-00 to 02-00-5E-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF reserved

Reserved identifiers from the table above need IESG Ratification (see Section 5.1) before they can be allocated. Any IANA EUI-64 identifier allocation under the IANA OUI has to meet these requirements:

  • must be for standards purposes (either for an IETF Standard or other standard related to IETF work),
  • must be for a block of a power-of-two identifiers starting at a boundary which is an equal or greater power of two, including the allocation of one (2**0) identifier,
  • must not be used to evade the requirement for vendors to obtain their own block of identifiers from the IEEE, and
  • must be documented in an Internet Draft or RFC.

On top of that, approval has to be obtained like this (see the procedure in Section 5.1):

  • Small to medium allocations of a block of 1, 2, 4, ..., 134217728, 268435456 (20, 21, 22, ..., 227, 2**28) EUI-64 identifiers require Expert Review.
  • Allocations of any size, including 536870912 (2**29) or more EUI-64 identifiers, may be made with IESG Ratification (see Section 5.1).

To keep the record keeping simple, all allocations of 65536 (2**16) or fewer EUI-64 identifiers shall have the Group bit unspecified. That means they're allocated as parallel equal-size blocks of multicast and unicast identifiers, even if only one of those two types is actually needed for the proposed use 🧚

2.3. Other MAC-48 Identifiers Used by IETF 💜

There are two other blocks of MAC-48 identifiers that the IETF uses, and they're explained below.

2.3.1. Identifiers Prefixed 33-33 🦋

All MAC-48 multicast identifiers prefixed "33-33" are used by the IETF for global IPv6 multicast [RFC2464]. That's the 2**32 multicast MAC identifiers in the range from 33-33-00-00-00-00 to 33-33-FF-FF-FF-FF, and they're giving main character energy ✨ In every one of them, the Group bit (the bottom bit of the first octet) is on. That's required so they work properly with existing hardware as multicast identifiers. They also have the Local bit on, and IPv6 networks use them for exactly this purpose.

(Historical note: It was the custom during IPv6 design to use "3" for unknown or example values, and 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto, California, is the address of PARC (Palo Alto Research Center, formerly "Xerox PARC"). Ethernet was originally specified by Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel Corporation, and Xerox Corporation. The pre IEEE [802.3] Ethernet protocol has sometimes been known as "DIX" Ethernet from the first letters of the names of these companies.)

2.3.2. The 'CF Series' 🍓

The Informational [RFC2153] declared the 3-octet values from CF-00-00 through CF-FF-FF to be OUIs. IANA could allocate them to software vendors for use in PPP [RFC1661], or for other uses where vendors don't otherwise need an IEEE-assigned OUI. Worth noting: when these values are used as MAC-48 prefixes, the Local and Group bits are on, while every IEEE-allocated OUI has those bits off. The Group bit doesn't mean anything in PPP. To quote [RFC2153]: "The 'CF0000' series was arbitrarily chosen to match the PPP NLPID 'CF', as a matter of mnemonic convenience."

CF-00-00 is reserved, and IANA lists the multicast identifier CF-00-00-00-00-00 as used for Ethernet loopback tests 🔥

In over a decade of availability, only a handful of values in the 'CF Series' have been allocated. (See http://www.iana.org under both Ethernet Parameters and PPP Parameters.)

2.3.2.1. Changes to RFC 2153 💅

The IANA Considerations in [RFC2153] are updated as follows, and no technical changes are made: use of these identifiers based on IANA allocation is deprecated. IANA is directed not to allocate any further values in the 'CF Series'. Bye, CF Series 👋

3. Ethernet Protocol Parameters 🌈

Ethernet protocol parameters are how a frame says what's inside it. For example, they tell you whether the contents are IPv4 or IPv6 ✨

The concept has also been extended to labeling by "tags". A tag here is a prefix whose type is identified by an Ethertype, and it's followed by either another tag, an Ethertype, or an LSAP protocol indicator for the "main" body of the frame, as described below. In the [802_O&A] world, tags have traditionally been fixed length and don't include any encoding of their own length. So anything processing a frame generally can't safely process anything past an Ethertype it doesn't understand 😭 An example is the C-tag (formerly the Q-tag) [802.1Q]. It provides customer VLAN and priority information for a frame.

There are two types of protocol identifier parameters that can show up in Ethernet frames after the initial MAC-48 destination and source identifiers:

  • Ethertypes: These are 16-bit identifiers appearing as the initial two octets after the MAC destination and source (or after a tag) which, when considered as an unsigned integer, are equal to or larger than 0x0600.
  • LSAPs: These are 8-bit protocol identifiers that occur in pairs immediately after an initial 16-bit (two octet) remaining frame length, which is in turn after the MAC destination and source (or after a tag). Such a length must, when considered as an unsigned integer, be less than 0x5DC or it could be mistaken as an Ethertype. LSAPs (Link-Layer Subnet Access Points) occur in pairs where one is intended to indicate the source protocol handler and one the destination protocol handler. Use cases where the two are different have been relatively rare, though 🙈

Neither Ethertypes nor LSAPs are allocated by IANA. The IEEE Registration Authority allocates them instead (see Section 1.2 above and the Ethertype Annex below). Still, both LSAPs and Ethertypes have extension mechanisms, so they can be used with five-octet Ethernet protocol identifiers under an OUI, including those allocated by IANA under the IANA OUI 🦋

When using the IEEE 802 LLC format (SNAP) [802_O&A] for a frame, an OUI-based protocol identifier looks like this:

      xx-xx-AA-AA-03-yy-yy-yy-zz-zz

Here xx-xx is the frame length. As above, it must be small enough not to be confused with an Ethertype. "AA" is the LSAP that indicates this use, and it's sometimes called the SNAP SAP. "03" is the LLC control octet indicating datagram service. yy-yy-yy is an OUI, and zz-zz is a protocol number under that OUI, allocated by the OUI owner. The odd five-octet length for these OUI-based protocol identifiers was picked so that, with the LLC control octet ("03"), the result is 16-bit aligned. Math is mathing 🧮

When you use an Ethertype to indicate the main type for a frame body, the special "OUI Extended Ethertype" 88-B7 is available. With this Ethertype, a frame body can begin with:

      88-B7-yy-yy-yy-zz-zz

where yy-yy-yy and zz-zz have the same meaning as in the SNAP format described above.

It's also possible, within the SNAP format, to use an arbitrary Ethertype. You do this by putting the Ethertype in the zz-zz field after an all-zeros OUI (00-00-00). It looks like this:

      xx-xx-AA-AA-03-00-00-00-zz-zz

where zz-zz is the Ethertype.

(Note that, at this point, the 802 protocol syntax facilities are powerful enough that they could be chained indefinitely. Whether support for such chaining is generally required isn't clear, but [802_O&A] requires support for xx-xx-AA-AA-03-00-00-00-88-B7-yy-yy-yy-zz-zz even though this could be expressed more efficiently by simply pinching out the "00-00-00-88-B7" in the middle.)

As well as labeling frame contents, 802 protocol types also appear within NBMA (Non-Broadcast Multi-Access) Next Hop Resolution Protocol [RFC2332] messages. Those messages have provisions for both two-octet Ethertypes and OUI-based protocol types 🫶

3.1. Ethernet Protocol Allocation under the IANA OUI 🦋

okay bestie, so two-octet protocol numbers under the IANA OUI are available, and they look like this:

xx-xx-AA-AA-03-00-00-5E-zz-zz

A bunch of these have already been handed out from the 2**16 protocol numbers between 00-00-5E-00-00 and 00-00-5E-FF-FF (see [IANA]) ✨. The two extreme values, 00-00-5E-00-00 and 00-00-5E-FF-FF, are reserved and need IESG Ratification before anything gets allocated (see Section 5.1) 🔒. New allocations of SNAP SAP protocol (zz-zz) numbers under the IANA OUI have to hit these requirements:

  • the allocation must be for standards use (either for an IETF Standard or other standard related to IETF work),
  • it must be documented in an Internet-Draft or RFC, and
  • such protocol numbers are not to be allocated for any protocol that has an Ethertype (because that can be expressed by putting an all zeros "OUI" before the Ethertype as described above).

On top of that, the Expert Review (or IESG Ratification for the two reserved values) must be obtained using the procedure specified in Section 5.1. no shortcuts, babe 💅

4. Other OUI-Based Parameters 🌈

okay so some IEEE 802 and other protocols have parameters that are based on an OUI beyond the ones we just talked about. Those usually come as an OUI plus one extra octet of value. People usually call them "vendor specific" parameters, but honestly "organization specific" would be more accurate 🙈. They look like this:

yy-yy-yy-zz

where yy-yy-yy is the OUI and zz is the additional specifier. The Cipher Suite Selector in IEEE 802.11 is an example (see [802.11], page 125) 🔐.

Values may be allocated under the IANA OUI for this kind of other OUI-based parameter usage by Expert Review. The catch is that, for each use, the additional specifier values made of all zero bits and all one bits (0x00 and 0xFF for a one-octet specifier) are reserved and need IESG Ratification (see Section 5.1) before they can be allocated 🚫. The allocations must be for standards use (either for an IETF Standard or other standard related to IETF work) and be documented in an Internet-Draft or RFC. The first time a value gets allocated for a particular parameter of this type, an IANA registry will be created to hold that allocation and any later allocations of values for that parameter under the IANA OUI. The Expert gets to name the registry 🗂️.

(If a different policy from that above is required for such a parameter, a BCP or Standards Track RFC must be adopted updating this BCP and specifying the new policy and parameter.)

5. IANA Considerations 💖

the whole document is basically about IANA Considerations for allocating Ethernet parameters tied to the IANA OUI and related stuff, so this section is the main event ✨.

Here's the breakdown:

  • Section 1.2.1 gives info on the IANA-assigned OUI.
  • Section 2.1.1 lists the current EUI-48 assignments under this OUI.
  • Section 2.1.2 spells out IANA considerations for EUI-48 assignments.
  • Section 2.2.2 spells out IANA considerations for EUI-64 assignments.
  • Section 3.1 points to the current protocol identifier assignments under the IANA OUI, and spells out IANA considerations for protocol identifier assignments.
  • Section 4 briefly covers IANA considerations for OUI-based miscellaneous allocations.

5.1. Expert Review and IESG Ratification 👑

this section is the how-to for Expert Review and IESG Ratification of MAC, protocol, and other IANA OUI-based identifiers 📋. The Expert(s) mentioned in this document shall consist of one or more people appointed by the IESG, who serve at its pleasure. The Expert Review procedure in this document is fully consistent with the IANA Expert Review policy described in Section 4.1 of [RFC5226] ✔️.

Here's the vibe check: the pool of code points that Expert judged allocations come from is finite, but it's felt to be big enough that the requirements in this document plus the Experts' good judgment are enough guidance 🧠. The idea is that the Expert gives a light sanity check for small EUI identifier allocations, looks more closely at medium-sized EUI identifier allocations, and looks even more closely at protocol identifiers and other IANA OUI based parameters. Still, it can make sense to allocate very large chunks of the MAC identifier code point space. (Note that existing allocations include one for 1/2 of the entire multicast code point space and one for 1/16 of the multicast code point space.) In those cases, and in cases of allocating "reserved" values, IESG Ratification of an Expert Review approval recommendation is required, as described below. The procedure goes like this 🎀:

  • The applicant always completes the appropriate Template from the Template Annex below and sends it to IANA <iana@iana.org>.
  • IANA always sends the Template to an appointed Expert. If the Expert recuses themselves or is non-responsive, IANA may choose an alternative appointed Expert or, if none are available, will contact the IESG.
  • If the allocation is based on Expert Review:
    • If IANA receives a disapproval from an Expert selected to review an application Template, the application will be denied.
    • If IANA receives approval and code points are available, IANA will make the requested allocation.
  • If the allocation is based on IESG Ratification, the procedure starts with the first two steps above for Expert Review. If the Expert disapproves the application, they simply inform IANA. However, if the Expert believes the application should be approved, or is uncertain and believes the circumstances warrant the attention of the IESG, the Expert will inform IANA about their advice, and IANA will forward the application, together with the reasons for approval or uncertainty, to the IESG. The IESG must decide whether the allocation will be granted. This can be done by a management item in an IESG telechat, like other types of requests. If the IESG decides not to ratify a favorable opinion by the Expert, or decides against an application where the Expert is uncertain, the application is denied. Otherwise it is granted. The IESG will communicate its decision to the Expert and to IANA 📬.

5.2. Informational IANA Web Page Material 🌐

IANA also keeps an informational listing on its web site about Ethertypes, OUIs, and multicast addresses allocated under OUIs other than the IANA OUI. IANA shall update that list when the Expert provides changes 🧾.

5.3. OUI Exhaustion ⏳

when the available space for either multicast or unicast EUI-48 identifiers under OUI 00-00-5E has been 90% or more used up, IANA should request an additional OUI from the IEEE Registration Authority (see Section 1.2) for further IANA allocation use 🚨.

6. Security Considerations 🔐

this document is about allocating parameters under the IANA OUI and closely related matters. It is not directly concerned with security, so no drama here 🙂.

7. Normative References 📚

  • [802_O&A] "IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks: Overview and Architecture", IEEE 802-2001, 8 March 2002.
  • "IEEE Standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks: Overview and Architecture / Amendment 1: Ethertypes for Prototype and Vendor-Specific Protocol Development", IEEE 802a-2003, 18 September 2003.

8. Informative References 🧚

  • [802.1Q] "IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks / Virtual Bridged Local Area Networks", IEEE 802.1Q-2005, 19 May 2006.
  • [802.3] "IEEE Standard for Information technology / Telecommunications and information exchange between systems / Local and metropolitan area networks / Specific requirements / Part 3: Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) access method and physical layer specifications", IEEE 802.3-2005, 9 December 2005.
  • [802.11] "IEEE Standard for Information technology / Telecommunications and information exchange between systems / Local and metropolitan area networks / Specific requirements / Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications", IEEE 802.11-2007, 11 June 2007.
  • [EUI-64] IEEE, "Guidelines for 64-bit Global Identifier (EUI-64) Registration Authority", <http://standards.ieee.org/regauth/oui/tutorials/EUI64.html>, March 1997.
  • [IANA] Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, Ethernet Types, <http://www.iana.org>.
  • [IEEE] Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, <http://www.ieee.org>.
  • [IEEE802] IEEE 802 LAN/MAN (Local Area Network / Metropolitan Area Network) Standards Committee, <http://www.ieee802.org>.
  • [RFC1112] Deering, S., "Host Extensions for IP Multicasting", STD 5, RFC 1112, Stanford University, August 1989.
  • [RFC1661] Simpson, W., "The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)", STD 51, RFC 1661, July 1994.
  • [RFC2153] Simpson, W., "PPP Vendor Extensions", RFC 2153, May 1997.
  • [RFC2332] Luciani, J., Katz, D., Piscitello, D., Cole, B., and N. Doraswamy, "NBMA Next Hop Resolution Protocol (NHRP)", RFC 2332, April 1998.
  • [RFC2464] Crawford, M., "Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Ethernet Networks", RFC 2464, December 1998.
  • [RFC3768] Hinden, R., "Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)", RFC 3768, April 2004.
  • [RFC4291] Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture", RFC 4291, February 2006.
  • [RFC5214] Templin, F., Gleeson, T., and D. Thaler, "Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol (ISATAP)", RFC 5214, March 2008.
  • [RFC5226] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 5226, May 2008.
  • [RFC5332] Eckert, T., Rosen, E., Ed., Aggarwal, R., and Y. Rekhter, "MPLS Multicast Encapsulations", RFC 5332, August 2008.

Appendix A. Templates 🎀

this annex has the specific templates for IANA allocations of parameters. Explanatory words in parentheses in the templates below may be deleted in a completed template as submitted to IANA ✂️.

A.1. EUI-48/EUI-64 Identifier or Identifier Block Template 🌸

Applicant Name:

Applicant Email:

Applicant Telephone: (starting with country code)

Use Name: (brief name of Parameter use such as "Foo Protocol")

Document: (ID or RFC specifying use to which the identifier or
block of identifiers will be put.)

Specify whether this is an application for EUI-48 or EUI-64
identifiers:

Size of Block requested: (must be a power-of-two-sized block, can
be a block of size one (2**0))

Specify multicast, unicast, or both:

A.2. 5-Octet Ethernet Protocol Identifier Template 💜

Applicant Name:

Applicant Email:

Applicant Telephone: (starting with country code)

Use Name: (brief name of use of code point such as "Foo Protocol")

Document: (ID or RFC specifying use to which the protocol
identifier will be put.)

A.3. Other IANA OUI-Based Parameter Template 💌

Okay so this is the form you fill out when you're asking IANA for a value for an OUI-based parameter that isn't an EUI or an Ethernet protocol ID. Every field goes in, no skipping, bestie 🫶

Applicant Name:

Applicant Email:

Applicant Telephone: (starting with country code)

Protocol where the OUI Based Parameter for which a value is being
requested appears: (such as: Cipher Suite selection in IEEE
802.11)

Use Name: (brief name of use of code point to be allocated, such
as "Foo Cipher Suite")

Document: (ID or RFC specifying use to which the other IANA OUI
based parameter value will be put.)

Appendix B. Ethertypes 🧚

This annex is a little roundup of some Ethertypes that were specified for IETF protocols or by IEEE 802 at the time this was published. ✨ It's not the final word, though. A more up-to-date list may be on the IANA web site, which currently lives at [IANA]. The IEEE Registration Authority's Ethertype page, http://standards.ieee.org/regauth/ethertype/eth.txt, may also be useful. And remember, see Section 3 above 💖

B.1. Some Ethertypes Specified by the IETF 🌸

0x0800  Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4)
0x0806  Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
0x0808  Frame Relay ARP
0x880B  Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)
0x880C  General Switch Management Protocol (GSMP)
0x8035  Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP)
0x86DD  Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)
0x8847  MPLS
0x8848  MPLS with upstream-assigned label
0x8861  Multicast Channel Allocation Protocol (MCAP)
0x8863  PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE) Discovery Stage
0x8864  PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE) Session Stage

B.2. Some IEEE 802 Ethertypes 🦋

0x8100  IEEE Std 802.1Q  - Customer VLAN Tag Type (C-Tag, formerly
                            called the Q-Tag)
0x8808  IEEE Std 802.3   - Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON)
0x888E  IEEE Std 802.1X  - Port-based network access control
0x88A8  IEEE Std 802.1Q  - Service VLAN tag identifier (S-Tag)
0x88B5  IEEE Std 802     - Local Experimental Ethertype
0x88B6  IEEE Std 802     - Local Experimental Ethertype
0x88B7  IEEE Std 802     - OUI Extended Ethertype
0x88C7  IEEE Std 802.11i - Pre-Authentication
0x88CC  IEEE Std 802.1AB - Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP)
0x88E5  IEEE Std 802.1AE - Media Access Control Security
0x88F5  IEEE Std 802.1ak - Multiple VLAN Registration Protocol
                           (MVRP)
0x88F6  IEEE Std 802.1Q  - Multiple Multicast Registration
                           Protocol (MMRP)
0x890D  IEEE 802.11r     - Fast Roaming Remote Request

Author's Address 🎀

Donald E. Eastlake 3rd
155 Beaver Street
Milford, MA 01757 USA

Phone: +1-508-634-2066
EMail: d3e3e3@gmail.com

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Copies of IPR disclosures sent to the IETF Secretariat, any assurances of licenses that will be made available, and the results of any attempt to get a general license or permission for implementers or users to use proprietary rights related to this specification can all be found in the IETF's online IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

The IETF invites anyone interested to point out any copyrights, patents, patent applications or other proprietary rights that might cover technology needed to implement this standard. Send that information to the IETF at ietf-ipr@ietf.org 🌈

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