Subject: Impending publication: draft-iab-unsaf-considerations-01.txt

From: "Leslie Daigle" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2002 09:49:29 -0500

The IAB is ready to ask the IESG to publish

     IAB Considerations for UNilateral Self-Address Fixing (UNSAF)
                 draft-iab-unsaf-considerations-01.txt

as an Informational RFC.  This document is part survey of issues,
and part advice for IETF protocol development.  The IAB would
like to ensure that the IETF community has had an opportunity to
read it and comment before its publication.

The IAB solicits comments by April 15, 2002.  Please send 
comments to the IAB, care of the document editor 
([email-masked]), or to [email-masked].  The document can be 
found at 

http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-iab-unsaf-considerations-01.txt

Leslie Daigle
For the IAB

ABSTRACT

   With current NA[P]T middleboxes, individual networks using different
   address realms are bridged.  However, as a side effect of address
   translation, communicating endpoints on either side of the middlebox
   do not know how to refer to themselves using addresses that are
   applicable in the other realm -- the address translation is locked
   within the middlebox.  Various proposals have been made for
   "UNilateral Self-Address Fixing (UNSAF)" processes.  These are
   processes whereby some originating process attempts to determine  or
   fix the address (and port) by which it is known to another process --
   e.g., to be able to use address data in the protocol exchange, or to
   advertise a public address from which it will receive connections.

   This document outlines the reasons for which these proposals can be
   considered at best as short term fixes to specific problems, and the
   specific issues to be carefully evaluated before creating an UNSAF
   proposal.