IANAifType-MIB issue
"Dave Thaler" <[email protected]> Thu, 4 Dec 2003 15:05:21 -0800
| Newsgroups | gmane.ietf.ifmib |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <C9588551DE135A41AA2626CB6453093704759FB3@WIN-MSG-10.wingroup.windeploy.ntdev.microsoft.com> |
Current state of affairs: 1) the IANAifType-MIB contains the IANAifType TC which has (at least from my understanding) a first-come-first-serve assignment policy. 2) the TUNNEL-MIB (RFC 2667) uses ifType =3D tunnel(131) and defines a tunnel subtype enum (which was not a TC) to "point" to specific tunnel types in the same way that ifType points to specific interface types. The intent was that all tunnels over IP use ifType =3D tunnel(131) and then use different tunnel subtypes. As a result, there have been at least one, probably multiple=20 cases where IANA has (correctly, as there was no alternative) assigned ifType values to new tunnel types, and hence some=20 of the benefit of the Tunnel MIB is lost. The Tunnel MIB is now being updated, and we have the opportunity to fix this, or at least avoid new occurrences of assigning an ifType where a tunnel subtype is more appropriate. Looking at the ifType values in question: 1: sixToFour (215), -- 6to4 interface Previously the Tunnel MIB only mentioned point-to-point tunnels, whereas this is a Non-Broadcast Multi-Access (NBMA) tunnel. In the updated tunnel MIB, the DESCRIPTION clauses are updated to clarify how such tunnels are represented. 2: gtp (216), -- GTP (GPRS Tunneling Protocol) I'm not that familiar with GTP but it appears to be a normal point-to-point tunnel over UDP/IP consistent with the Tunnel MIB in RFC 2667. 3: mplsTunnel (150), -- MPLS Tunnel Virtual Interface This one was assigned to draft-ietf-mpls-te-mib-14.txt. It's not clear to me whether this is actually a tunnel over IP though, so I'm not sure whether it's another example or not. In summary, the problem was that the tunnel subtypes were not an IANA registry, and so the natural incentive for folks creating new tunnel types is to get an ifType value instead of a tunnel subtype value, since the latter required rev'ing the RFC. To fix this, the Tunnel MIB update creates a TC and delegates=20 it to IANA. This is straightforward. However, to completely fix the incentive problem, it needs to be exactly as easy/difficult to get a tunnel subtype as it is to=20 get an ifType. Simply creating another IANA registry won't necessarily cause folks to notice it, and/or request one instead of an ifType where a tunnel subtype is more appropriate. A proposal in the appendix of draft-thaler-inet-tunnel-mib-00.txt is to add the IANAtunnelType TC *into the IANAifType-MIB itself*=20 alongside the IANAifType TC. The rationale behind this is that it makes it easy to find both (you can't claim you didn't know tunnelType existed when you apply for an ifType) and means a paragraph of guidelines for when to ask for ifType vs tunnelType is in one place rather that two separate places with=20 cross-references, etc. I'd like to get feedback on this proposal from IANA and/or the IF-MIB WG. This is the only open issue on the document, and I expect the document to be able to go to last call after this question is resolved. -Dave=20