ietf
[Top] [All Lists]

RE: Last Call: <draft-ietf-intarea-gre-mtu-02.txt> (A Widely-Deployed Solution To The Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) Fragmentation Problem) to Informational RFC

2015-04-10 12:31:34
Masataka,

Thanks for your thoughtful review. Would your concern be addressed if we added 
the text below?

                                                                  Ron

TEXT
====

2.2.1. RFC 2460 Compliance

OLD>
The solution described above is widely-deployed on the Internet in its default 
configuration.
<OLD

NEW>
The solution described above is widely-deployed on the Internet in its default 
configuration. However, the default configuration is not always appropriate for 
GRE tunnels that carry IPv6.

IPv6 requires that every link in the Internet have an MTU of 1280 octets or 
greater.  On any link that cannot convey a 1280-octet packet in one piece, 
link-specific fragmentation and reassembly must be provided at a layer below 
IPv6.  

Therefore, the default configuration is appropriate for tunnels that carry IPv6 
only if the network is engineered so that the GMTU is guaranteed to be 
1280-bytes or greater. In all other scenarios, a non-default configuration is 
required. 

In the non-default configuration, when the GRE ingress router receives a packet 
lager than the GMTU, the GRE ingress router encapsulates the entire packet in a 
single GRE and delivery header. It then fragments the delivery header and sends 
the resulting fragments to the GRE egress, where they are reassembled.

<NEW

-----Original Message-----
From: ietf [mailto:ietf-bounces(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org] On Behalf Of Masataka 
Ohta
Sent: Friday, April 10, 2015 8:26 AM
To: ietf(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
Cc: int-area(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
Subject: Re: Last Call: <draft-ietf-intarea-gre-mtu-02.txt> (A Widely-
Deployed Solution To The Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE)
Fragmentation Problem) to Informational RFC

As the draft says;

   o  When the GRE ingress node receives a non-fragmentable packet with
      length greater than the GMTU, it discards the packet and send an
      ICMP PTB message to the packet's source.

the draft should clearly state that, if GMTU<1280B, it is a violation of the
following requirement of RFC2460:

   IPv6 requires that every link in the internet have an MTU of 1280
   octets or greater.  On any link that cannot convey a 1280-octet
   packet in one piece, link-specific fragmentation and reassembly must
   be provided at a layer below IPv6.

and that 1280B IPv6 packets can not be carried over IPv6 with the default GRE
configuration.

It is especially so, because, according to the draft:

   Typically, GRE ingress nodes further refine their GMTU estimate by
   executing PMTUD procedures.  However, if an implementation supports
   PMTUD for GRE tunnels, it also includes a configuration option that
   disables PMTUD.  This configuration option is required to mitigate
   certain denial of service attacks (see Section 5).

PMTUD is often turned off and, then, RFC2460 requires GMTU<1280B.

Also, I think the paragraph above is not very honest on the reason why
PMTUD is often turned off.

                                              Masataka Ohta