Subject: Protocol Action: IPv6 Router Alert Option to Proposed Standard

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 02 Sep 1999 06:39:19 -0400

The IESG has approved the Internet-Draft 'IPv6 Router Alert Option'
<draft-ietf-ipngwg-ipv6router-alert-06.txt> as a Proposed Standard.
This document is the product of the IPNG Working Group.  The IESG
contact persons are Erik Nordmark and Thomas Narten.

Technical Summary
 
This document describes a new IPv6 Hop-by-Hop Option type that alerts
transit routers to more closely examine the contents of an IP
datagram.  This option is useful for situations where a datagram
addressed to a particular destination contains information that may
require special processing by routers along the path. For example, a
Router Alert option is included in Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD)
packets containing Listener Reports, which are sent to multicast
groups but must also be processed by neighboring routers.

Working Group Summary

This document has traveled a long and tortuous path. At one point,
attempts were made to reconcile the differing semantics of the IPv4
and IPv6 Router Alert options. Those attempts were ultimately
unsuccessful, as there were compelling reasons for the v6 semantics
and the but they were not compelling enough to change the v4 version
of the option, which has been deployed.

There was support in the WG for the current version of the option and
no issues were raised during the last call.

Protocol Quality

This document has been reviewed for the IESG by Thomas Narten and
Erik Nordmark. There are multiple implementations of the option.

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