Subject: [v6ops] Proposed agenda for IETF 112

From: Fred Baker <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2021 09:53:00 -0700

The v6ops chairs have posted a proposed agenda for IETF 112 at https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/112/materials/agenda-112-v6ops-00. This includes all updated individual submissions as of October 26, including some documents we expect to take to WGLC and publish. Note that we generally accept for the agenda documents that have been updated since the previous meeting and have had supporting commentary on the list. The agenda also includes a slot for a joint meeting of 6man and v6ops to discuss the Hop-by-hop issue, and includes presentations on the open HBH drafts v6ops and 6man plus open mike discussion.

The announcement of the joint meeting is as follows. It includes a request for presentations on three topics related to HBH. If you want to present on one of these topics, please contact [email-masked] and [email-masked] (e.g., copy both) to discuss.

IETF 112 6MAN / V6OPS Joint Meeting
 
Topic: Rehabilitating the Hop-by-hop Extension Header
 
Date: Friday, November 12, 2021
Time: 1200-1400
 
Many modern routers maintain separation between their control and forwarding planes. This is sometimes also called the “fast path” and “slow path”.  In these routers, some hardware components are dedicated to control plane functions while others are dedicated to forwarding plane functions. Forwarding plane hardware is highly specialized. It may be implemented by Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICS), Network Processors (NP), or other special purpose hardware.  While it can process many packets per second, it is not as programmable as a general-purpose processor that might be used for the Control Plane. Control plane hardware is more programmable but can process fewer packets per second.
 
A router can breach the separation between the control and forwarding planes when processing IPv6 packets that contain the Hop-by-hop extension header (HBH). They receive packets containing HBH on forwarding plane hardware but cannot currently process them inline because forwarding plane hardware is not designed to process HBH options at speed. So, they execute one of the following actions:
 
       • Drop the packet
       • Forward the packet, ignoring the HBH extension header
       • Send the packet to control plane hardware for processing
 
If the router sends too many packets to control plane hardware for processing, control plane resources may become scarce and control plane functions may fail. Therefore, packets containing HBH can be used in a Denial of Service (DoS) attack.
 
Because packets containing HBH options can be used in a DoS attack, it is common for network operators to drop them.
 
The IETF 6MAN and V6OPS Working groups have ongoing work focused on making the IPv6 HBH Options header work better on the Internet.   We will hold a joint meeting with the goal of making the HBH Extension header usable.  This current work includes:
 
       • draft-hinden-6man-hbh-processing
       • draft-ietf-v6ops-hbh
       • draft-herbert-6man-eh-limits-00
 
The goal of the meeting is to discuss this work and solicit other ideas to generate more synergy between the V6OPS and 6MAN working groups on this topic.  Beyond the drafts listed earlier, we invite presentations on the following topics (drafts not required):
 
      • Fast Path approaches to process HBH Headers and Options
      • General discussion of suitability of currently defined HBH Options
      • Issues with Router Alert

                                   Bob, Ole, Fred and Ron