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rfc:rfc5837

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) A. Atlas, Ed. Request for Comments: 5837 BT Category: Standards Track R. Bonica, Ed. ISSN: 2070-1721 Juniper Networks

                                                     C. Pignataro, Ed.
                                                               N. Shen
                                                         Cisco Systems
                                                            JR. Rivers
                                                            Consultant
                                                            April 2010
      Extending ICMP for Interface and Next-Hop Identification

Abstract

 This memo defines a data structure that can be appended to selected
 ICMP messages.  The ICMP extension defined herein can be used to
 identify any combination of the following: the IP interface upon
 which a datagram arrived, the sub-IP component of an IP interface
 upon which a datagram arrived, the IP interface through which the
 datagram would have been forwarded had it been forwardable, and the
 IP next hop to which the datagram would have been forwarded.
 Devices can use this ICMP extension to identify interfaces and their
 components by any combination of the following: ifIndex, IPv4
 address, IPv6 address, name, and MTU.  ICMP-aware devices can use
 these extensions to identify both numbered and unnumbered interfaces.

Status of This Memo

 This is an Internet Standards Track document.
 This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
 (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
 received public review and has been approved for publication by the
 Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
 Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.
 Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
 and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
 http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5837.

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

Copyright Notice

 Copyright (c) 2010 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
 document authors.  All rights reserved.
 This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
 Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
 (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
 publication of this document.  Please review these documents
 carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
 to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
 include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
 the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
 described in the Simplified BSD License.
 This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF
 Contributions published or made publicly available before November
 10, 2008.  The person(s) controlling the copyright in some of this
 material may not have granted the IETF Trust the right to allow
 modifications of such material outside the IETF Standards Process.
 Without obtaining an adequate license from the person(s) controlling
 the copyright in such materials, this document may not be modified
 outside the IETF Standards Process, and derivative works of it may
 not be created outside the IETF Standards Process, except to format
 it for publication as an RFC or to translate it into languages other
 than English.

Table of Contents

 1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
 2.  Conventions Used In This Document  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
 3.  Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.1.  Application to Traceroute  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   3.2.  Policy and MTU Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
 4.  Interface Information Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   4.1.  C-Type Meaning in an Interface Information Object  . . . .  7
   4.2.  Interface IP Address Sub-Object  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   4.3.  Interface Name Sub-Object  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   4.4.  Interface Information Object Examples  . . . . . . . . . . 10
   4.5.  Usage  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
 5.  Network Address Translation Considerations . . . . . . . . . . 14
 6.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
 7.  IANA Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
 8.  Acknowledgments  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
 9.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   9.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
   9.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 2] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

1. Introduction

 IP devices use the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMPv4
 [RFC0792] and ICMPv6 [RFC4443]) to convey control information.  In
 particular, when an IP device receives a datagram that it cannot
 process, it may send an ICMP message to the datagram's originator.
 Network operators and higher-level protocols use these ICMP messages
 to detect and diagnose network issues.
 In the simplest case, the source address of the ICMP message
 identifies the interface upon which the datagram arrived.  However,
 in many cases, the incoming interface is not identified by the ICMP
 message at all.  Details follow:
 According to [RFC1812], when a router generates an ICMPv4 message,
 the source address of that message MUST be one of the following:
 o  one of the IP addresses associated with the physical interface
    over which the ICMPv4 message is transmitted
 o  if that interface has no IP addresses associated with it, the
    device's router-id or host-id is used instead.
 If all of the following conditions are true, the source address of
 the ICMPv4 message identifies the interface upon which the original
 datagram arrived:
 o  the device sends an ICMPv4 message through the same interface upon
    which the original datagram was received
 o  that interface is numbered
 However, the incoming and outgoing interfaces may be different due to
 an asymmetric return path, which can occur due to asymmetric link
 costs, parallel links, or Equal Cost Multipath (ECMP).
 Similarly, [RFC1122] provides guidance for source address selection
 for multihomed IPv4 hosts.  These recommendations, like those stated
 above, do not always cause the source address of an ICMPv4 message to
 identify the incoming interface.
 ICMPv6 is somewhat more flexible.  [RFC4443] states that for
 responses to messages sent to a non-local interface, the source
 address must be chosen as follows:
 o  the Source Address of the ICMPv6 packet MUST be a unicast address
    belonging to the node.  The address SHOULD be chosen according to
    the rules that would be used to select the source address for any

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 3] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

    other packet originated by the node, given the destination address
    of the packet.  However, it MAY be selected in an alternative way
    if this would lead to a more informative choice of address
    reachable from the destination of the ICMPv6 packet.
 When a datagram that cannot be processed arrives on an unnumbered
 interface, neither ICMPv4 nor ICMPv6 is currently capable of
 identifying the incoming interface.  Even when an ICMP message is
 generated such that the ICMP source address identifies the incoming
 interface, the receiver of that ICMP message has no way of knowing if
 this is the case.  ICMP extensions are required to explicitly
 identify the incoming interface.
 Using the extension defined herein, a device can explicitly identify
 the incoming IP interface or its sub-IP components by any combination
 of the following:
 o  ifIndex
 o  IPv4 address
 o  IPv6 address
 o  name
 o  MTU
 The interface name SHOULD be identical to the first 63 octets of the
 ifName, as defined in [RFC2863].  The ifIndex is also defined in
 [RFC2863].
 Using the same extension, an IP device can explicitly identify by the
 above the outgoing interface over which a datagram would have been
 forwarded if that datagram had been deliverable.
 The next-hop IP address, to which the datagram would have been
 forwarded, can also be identified using this same extension.  This
 information can be used for creating a downstream map.  The next-hop
 information may not always be available.  There are corner-cases
 where it doesn't exist and there may be implementations where it is
 not practical to provide this information.  This specification
 provides an encoding for providing the next-hop IP address when it is
 available.
 The extension defined herein uses the ICMP multi-part message
 framework defined in [RFC4884].  The same backward compatibility
 issues that apply to [RFC4884] apply to this extension.

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 4] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

2. Conventions Used In This Document

 The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
 "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
 document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].

3. Applications

3.1. Application to Traceroute

 ICMP extensions defined in this memo provide additional capability to
 traceroute.  An enhanced traceroute application, like older
 implementations, identifies nodes that a datagram visited en route to
 its destination.  It differs from older implementations in that it
 can explicitly identify the following at each node:
 o  the IP interface upon which a datagram arrived
 o  the sub-IP component of an IP interface upon which a datagram
    arrived
 o  the IP interface through which the datagram would have been
    forwarded had it been forwardable
 o  the IP next hop to which the datagram would have been forwarded
 Enhanced traceroute applications can identify the above listed
 entities by:
 o  ifIndex
 o  IPv4 address
 o  IPv6 address
 o  name
 o  MTU
 The ifIndex can be utilized within a management domain to map to an
 actual interface, but it is also valuable in public applications.
 The ifIndex can be used as an opaque token to discern whether or not
 two ICMP messages generated from the same router involve the same
 interface.

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 5] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

3.2. Policy and MTU Detection

 A general application would be to identify which outgoing interface
 triggered a given function for the original packet.  For example, if
 an access control list (ACL) drops the packet and Dest Unreachable/
 Admin Prohibited denies the packet, being able to identify the
 outgoing interface might be useful.  Another example would be to
 support Path MTU Discovery (PMTUD), since this would allow
 identification of which outgoing interface can't support a given MTU
 size.  For example, knowledge of the problematic interface would
 allow an informed request for reconfiguration of the MTU of that
 interface.

4. Interface Information Object

 This section defines the Interface Information Object, an ICMP
 extension object with a Class-Num (Object Class Value) of 2 that can
 be appended to the following messages:
 o  ICMPv4 Time Exceeded
 o  ICMPv4 Destination Unreachable
 o  ICMPv4 Parameter Problem
 o  ICMPv6 Time Exceeded
 o  ICMPv6 Destination Unreachable
 For reasons described in [RFC4884], this extension cannot be appended
 to any of the currently defined ICMPv4 or ICMPv6 messages other than
 those listed above.
 The extension defined herein MAY be appended to any of the above
 listed messages and SHOULD be appended whenever required to identify
 an unnumbered interface and when local policy or security
 considerations do not supersede this requirement.
 A single ICMP message can contain as few as zero and as many as four
 instances of the Interface Information Object.  It is illegal if it
 contains more than four instances, because that means that an
 interface role is used more than once (see Section 4.5).
 A single instance of the Interface Information Object can provide
 information regarding any one of the following interface roles:
 o  the IP interface upon which a datagram arrived

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 6] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

 o  the sub-IP component of an IP interface upon which a datagram
    arrived
 o  the IP interface through which the datagram would have been
    forwarded had it been forwardable
 o  the IP next hop to which the datagram would have been forwarded
 The following are examples of sub-IP components of IP interfaces upon
 which a datagram might arrive:
 o  Ethernet Link Aggregation Group Member
 o  Multilink PPP bundle member
 o  Multilink frame relay bundle member
 To minimize the number of octets required for this extension, there
 are four different pieces of information that can appear in an
 Interface Information Object.
 1.  The ifIndex of the interface of interest MAY be included.  This
     is the 32-bit ifIndex assigned to the interface by the device as
     specified by the Interfaces Group MIB [RFC2863].
 2.  An IP Address Sub-Object MAY be included if either of the
     following conditions is true: a) the eliciting datagram is IPv4
     and the identified interface has at least one IPv4 address
     associated with it, or b) the eliciting datagram is IPv6 and the
     identified interface has at least one IPv6 address associated
     with it.  The IP Address Sub-Object is described in Section 4.2
     of this memo.
 3.  An Interface Name Sub-Object, containing a string of no more than
     63 octets, MAY be included.  That string, as specified in
     Section 4.3, is the interface name and SHOULD be the MIB-II
     ifName [RFC2863], but MAY be some other human-meaningful name of
     the interface.
 4.  A 32-bit unsigned integer reflecting the MTU MAY be included.

4.1. C-Type Meaning in an Interface Information Object

 For this object, the C-Type [RFC4884] is used to indicate both the
 role of the interface and the information that is included.  This is
 illustrated in Figure 1.

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 7] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

 Bit     0       1       2       3       4       5       6       7
     +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
     | Interface Role| Rsvd1 | Rsvd2 |ifIndex| IPAddr|  name |  MTU  |
     +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
         Figure 1: C-Type for the Interface Information Object
 The following are bit-field definitions for C-Type:
 Interface Role (bits 0-1): These bits indicates the role of the
 interface being identified.  The enumerated values are given below:
    Value 0:  This object describes the IP interface upon which a
              datagram arrived
    Value 1:  This object describes the sub-IP component of an IP
              interface upon which a datagram arrived
    Value 2:  This object describes the IP interface through which the
              datagram would have been forwarded had it been
              forwardable
    Value 3:  This object describes the IP next hop to which the
              datagram would have been forwarded
 Reserved 1 (bit 2): This bit is reserved for future use and MUST be
 set to 0 and MUST be ignored on receipt.
 Reserved 2 (bit 3): This bit is reserved for future use and MUST be
 set to 0 and MUST be ignored on receipt.
 ifIndex (bit 4) : When set, the 32-bit ifIndex of the interface is
 included.  When clear, the ifIndex is not included.
 IP Addr (bit 5) : When set, an IP Address Sub-Object is present.
 When clear, an IP Address Sub-Object is not present.  The IP Address
 Sub-Object is described in Section 4.2 of this memo.
 Interface Name (bit 6): When set, an Interface Name Sub-Object is
 included.  When clear, it is not included.  The Name Sub-Object is
 described in Section 4.3 of this memo.
 MTU (bit 7): When set, a 32-bit integer representing the MTU is
 present.  When clear, this 32-bit integer is not present.
 The information included does not self-identify, so this
 specification defines a specific ordering for sending the information
 that must be followed.

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 8] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

 If bit 4 (ifIndex) is set, then the 32-bit ifIndex MUST be sent
 first.  If bit 5 (IP Address) is set, an IP Address Sub-Object MUST
 be sent next.  If bit 6 (Name) is set, an Interface Name Sub-Object
 MUST be sent next.  If bit 7 is set, an MTU MUST be sent next.  The
 information order is thus: ifIndex, IP Address Sub-Object, Interface
 Name Sub-Object, and MTU.  Any or all pieces of information may be
 present or absent, as indicated by the C-Type.  Any data that follows
 these optional pieces of information MUST be ignored.
 It is valid (though pointless until additional bits are assigned by
 IANA) to receive an Interface Information Object where bits 4, 5, 6,
 and 7 are all 0; this MUST NOT generate a warning or error.

4.2. Interface IP Address Sub-Object

 Figure 2 depicts the Interface Address Sub-Object:
                    0                            31
                   +-------+-------+-------+-------+
                   |      AFI      |    Reserved   |
                   +-------+-------+-------+-------+
                   |         IP Address   ....
                Figure 2: Interface Address Sub-Object
 The IP Address Sub-Object contains the following fields:
 o  Address Family Identifier (AFI): This 16-bit bit field identifies
    the type of address represented by the IP Address field.  It also
    determines the length of that field and the length of the entire
    sub-object.  Values for this field represent a subset of values
    found in the IANA registry of Address Family Numbers (available
    from <http://www.iana.org>).  Valid values are 1 (representing a
    32-bit IPv4 address) and 2 (representing a 128-bit IPv6 address).
 o  Reserved: This 16-bit field MUST be set to zero and ignored upon
    receipt.
 o  IP Address: This variable-length field represents an IP address
    associated with the identified interface.
 If the eliciting datagram was IPv4, the IP Interface Sub-Object MUST
 represent an IPv4 address.  Likewise, if the eliciting datagram was
 IPv6, the IP Interface Sub-Object MUST represent an IPv6 address.

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 9] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

4.3. Interface Name Sub-Object

 Figure 3 depicts the Interface Name Sub-Object:
      octet    0        1                                   63
           +--------+-----------................-----------------+
           | length |   interface name octets 1-63               |
           +--------+-----------................-----------------+
                  Figure 3: Interface Name Sub-Object
 The Interface Name Sub-Object MUST have a length that is a multiple
 of 4 octets and MUST NOT exceed 64 octets.
 The Length field represents the length of the Interface Name Sub-
 Object, including the length and the interface name in octets.  The
 maximum valid length is 64 octets.  The length is constrained to
 ensure there is space for the start of the original packet and
 additional information.
 The second field contains the human-readable interface name.  The
 interface name SHOULD be the full MIB-II ifName [RFC2863], if less
 than 64 octets, or the first 63 octets of the ifName, if the ifName
 is longer.  The interface name MAY be some other human-meaningful
 name of the interface.  It is useful to provide the ifName for cross-
 correlation with other MIB information and for human-reader
 familiarity.  The interface name MUST be padded with ASCII NULL
 characters if the object would not otherwise terminate on a 4-octet
 boundary.
 The interface name MUST be represented in the UTF-8 charset [RFC3629]
 using the Default Language [RFC2277].

4.4. Interface Information Object Examples

 Figure 4 shows a full ICMPv4 Time Exceeded message, including the
 Interface Information Object, which must be preceded by an ICMP
 Extension Structure Header and an ICMP Object Header.  Both are
 defined in [RFC4884].
 Although examples show an Interface Name Sub-Object of length 64,
 this is only for illustration and depicts the maximum allowable
 length.

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 10] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

    0                   1                   2                   3
    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     Type      |     Code      |          Checksum             |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |     unused    |    Length     |          unused               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |      Internet Header + leading octets of original datagram    |
   |                                                               |
   |                           //                                  |
   |                                                               |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   | Ver=2 |      (Reserved)       |           Checksum            |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |             Length            |Class-Num=2 | C-Type=00001010b |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                    Interface ifIndex                          |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                Interface Name Sub-Object, 32-bit word 1       |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
  ...                                                             ...
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   |                Interface Name Sub-Object, 32-bit word 16      |
   +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
   Figure 4: ICMPv4 Time Exceeded Message with Interface Information
                                Object
 Figure 5 depicts an Interface Information Object representing an
 incoming interface identified by ifIndex and Name.
          Class-Num = 2
          C-Type = 00001010b   // Indicates incoming interface
          Length = 72 (4 + 4 + 64)
             0              1              2              3
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |                    Interface ifIndex                      |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |    Length    |      Name, word 1                          |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
    ...                                                         ...
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |                     Name, word 16                         |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
           Figure 5: Incoming Interface: By ifIndex and Name

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 11] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

 Figure 6 depicts an Interface Information Object representing an
 incoming interface identified by ifIndex, IPv4 Address, and Name.
          Class-Num = 2
          C-Type = 00001110b   // Indicates incoming interface
          Length = 80 (4 + 4 + 8 + 64)
             0              1              2              3
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |                    Interface ifIndex                      |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |             AFI             |          Reserved           |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |                    IPv4 address                           |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |    Length    |      Name, word 1                          |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
    ...                                                         ...
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |                     Name, word 16                         |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
   Figure 6: Incoming Interface: by ifIndex, IPv4 Address, and Name
 Figure 7 depicts an Interface Information Object representing an
 incoming interface identified by ifIndex and IPv6 Address.
         Class-Num = 2
         C-Type = 00001100b   // Indicates incoming interface
         Length = 28 (4 + 4 + 20)
            0              1              2              3
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |                    Interface ifIndex                      |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |             AFI             |          Reserved           |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |                    IPv6 address, 32-bit word 1            |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |                    IPv6 address, 32-bit word 2            |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |                    IPv6 address, 32-bit word 3            |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |                    IPv6 address, 32-bit word 4            |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
       Figure 7: Incoming Interface: By ifIndex and IPv6 Address

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 12] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

 Figure 8 depicts an Interface Information Object representing an
 outgoing interface identified by ifIndex and Name.
        Class-Num = 2
        C-Type = 10001010b   // Indicates outgoing interface
        Length = 72 (4 + 4 + 64)
             0              1              2              3
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |                    Interface ifIndex                      |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |    Length    |      Name, word 1                          |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
    ...                                                         ...
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
     |                     Name, word 16                         |
     +--------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
           Figure 8: Outgoing Interface: By ifIndex and Name

4.5. Usage

 Multiple Interface Information Objects MAY be included within a
 single ICMP message, provided that each Interface Information Object
 specifies a unique role.  A single ICMP message MUST NOT contain two
 Interface Information Objects that specify the same role.
 ifIndex, MTU, and name information MAY be included whenever it is
 available; more than one instance of each of these three information
 elements MUST NOT be included per Interface Information Object.
 A single instance of IP Address information MAY be included in an
 Interface Information Object under the following circumstances:
 o  if the eliciting datagram is IPv4 and an IPv4 address is
    associated with the identified interface.  In this case, if an IP
    Address Sub-Object is included, it must specify an IPv4 address.
 o  if the eliciting datagram is IPv6 and an IPv6 address is
    associated with the identified interface.  In this case, if an IP
    Address Sub-Object is included, it must specify an IPv6 address.
 In all other circumstances, IP address information MUST NOT be
 included.
 An ICMP message that does not conform to these rules and contains
 multiple instances of the same information is considered illegal;
 specifically, an ICMP message containing more than one Interface

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 13] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

 Information Object with the same role, as well as an ICMP message
 containing a duplicate information element in a given role are
 considered illegal.  If such an illegal ICMP message is received, it
 MUST be silently discarded.

5. Network Address Translation Considerations

 [RFC5508] encourages Traditional IP Network Address Translators
 (Traditional NATs; see [RFC3022]) to support ICMP extension objects.
 This document defines an ICMP extension that includes IP addresses
 and therefore contains realm-specific information, and consequently
 describes possible NAT behaviors in the presence of these extensions.
 NAT devices MUST NOT translate or overwrite the ICMP extensions
 described herein.  That is, they MUST either remove the extension
 entirely or pass it unchanged.
 It is conceivable that a NAT device might translate an ICMP header
 without translating the extension defined herein.  In this case, the
 ICMP message might contain two instances of the same address, one
 translated and the other untranslated.  Therefore, application
 developers should not assume addresses in the extension are of the
 same realm as the addresses in the datagram's header.
 It also is conceivable that a NAT device might translate an ICMPv4
 message into ICMPv6 or vice versa.  If that were to occur,
 applications might receive ICMPv6 messages that contain IP Address
 Sub-Objects that specify IPv4 addresses.  Likewise, applications
 might receive ICMPv4 messages that contain IP Address Sub-Objects
 that specify IPv6 addresses.

6. Security Considerations

 This extension can provide the user of traceroute with additional
 network information that is not currently available.  Implementations
 SHOULD provide configuration switches that suppress the generation of
 this extension based upon role (i.e., incoming interface, outgoing
 interface, sub-IP data).  Implementations SHOULD also provide
 configuration switches that conceal various types of information
 (e.g., ifIndex, interface name).
 It may be desirable to provide this information to a particular
 network's operators and not to others.  If such policy controls are
 desirable, then an implementation could determine what sub-objects to
 include based upon the destination IP address of the ICMP message
 that will contain the sub-objects.  The implementation of policy
 controls could also be based upon the mechanisms described in
 [TRACEROUTE-EXT] for those limited cases supported.

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 14] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

 For instance, the IP address may be included for all potential
 recipients.  The ifIndex and interface name could be included as well
 if the destination IP address is a management address of the network
 that has administrative control of the router.
 Another example use case would be where the detailed information in
 these extensions may be provided to ICMP destinations within the
 local administrative domain, but only traditional information is
 provided to 'external' or untrusted ICMP destinations.
 The intended field of use for the extensions defined in this document
 is administrative debugging and troubleshooting.  The extensions
 herein defined supply additional information in ICMP responses.
 These mechanisms are not intended to be used in non-debugging
 applications.
 This document does not specify an authentication mechanism for the
 extension that it defines.  Application developers should be aware
 that ICMP messages and their contents are easily spoofed.

7. IANA Considerations

 IANA has reserved 2 for the Interface Information Object from the
 ICMP Extension Object Classes registry available from
 <http://www.iana.org>.
 From the Interface Information Object's C-Type, IANA has reserved
 values as follows:
 o  Bit 0-1: Interface Role field
 o  Bit 2: Unallocated - allocatable with Standards Action
 o  Bit 3: Unallocated - allocatable with Standards Action
 o  Bit 4: ifIndex included
 o  Bit 5: IP Address Sub-Object included
 o  Bit 6: Name Sub-Object included
 o  Bit 7: MTU included
 IANA has reserved the following values for Interface Role:
 o  Value 0: Incoming IP Interface
 o  Value 1: Sub-IP Component of Incoming IP Interface

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 15] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

 o  Value 2: Outgoing IP Interface
 o  Value 3: IP Next Hop

8. Acknowledgments

 The authors would like to thank Sasha Vainshtein, Enke Chen, and Joe
 Touch for their comments and suggestions.  They would also like to
 thank Dr. Ali Assefi.

9. References

9.1. Normative References

 [RFC0792]         Postel, J., "Internet Control Message Protocol",
                   STD 5, RFC 792, September 1981.
 [RFC2119]         Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
                   Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
 [RFC2863]         McCloghrie, K. and F. Kastenholz, "The Interfaces
                   Group MIB", RFC 2863, June 2000.
 [RFC3629]         Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
                   10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, November 2003.
 [RFC4443]         Conta, A., Deering, S., and M. Gupta, "Internet
                   Control Message Protocol (ICMPv6) for the Internet
                   Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) Specification", RFC 4443,
                   March 2006.
 [RFC4884]         Bonica, R., Gan, D., Tappan, D., and C. Pignataro,
                   "Extended ICMP to Support Multi-Part Messages",
                   RFC 4884, April 2007.

9.2. Informative References

 [RFC1122]         Braden, R., "Requirements for Internet Hosts -
                   Communication Layers", STD 3, RFC 1122,
                   October 1989.
 [RFC1812]         Baker, F., "Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers",
                   RFC 1812, June 1995.
 [RFC2277]         Alvestrand, H., "IETF Policy on Character Sets and
                   Languages", BCP 18, RFC 2277, January 1998.

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 16] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

 [RFC3022]         Srisuresh, P. and K. Egevang, "Traditional IP
                   Network Address Translator (Traditional NAT)",
                   RFC 3022, January 2001.
 [RFC5508]         Srisuresh, P., Ford, B., Sivakumar, S., and S.
                   Guha, "NAT Behavioral Requirements for ICMP",
                   BCP 148, RFC 5508, April 2009.
 [TRACEROUTE-EXT]  Shen, N., Pignataro, C., Asati, R., and E. Chen,
                   "UDP Traceroute Message Extension", Work in
                   Progress, June 2008.

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 17] RFC 5837 ICMP Unnumbered April 2010

Authors' Addresses

 Alia K. Atlas (editor)
 BT
 EMail: alia.atlas@bt.com
 Ronald P. Bonica (editor)
 Juniper Networks
 2251 Corporate Park Drive
 Herndon, VA  20171
 USA
 EMail: rbonica@juniper.net
 Carlos Pignataro (editor)
 Cisco Systems
 7200-12 Kit Creek Road
 PO Box 14987
 Research Triangle Park, NC  27709
 USA
 EMail: cpignata@cisco.com
 Naiming Shen
 Cisco Systems
 225 West Tasman Drive
 San Jose, CA  95134
 USA
 EMail: naiming@cisco.com
 JR. Rivers
 Consultant
 EMail: jrrivers@yahoo.com

Atlas, et al. Standards Track [Page 18]

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