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Versions: 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 RFC 5859
Network Working Group R. Johnson
Internet-Draft Cisco Systems, Inc.
Intended status: Informational March 6, 2010
Expires: September 7, 2010
TFTP Server Address Option for DHCPv4
draft-raj-dhc-tftp-addr-option-06.txt
Abstract
This memo documents existing usage for the "TFTP Server Address
Option". The option number currently in use is 150. This memo
documents the current usage of the option in agreement with RFC 3942
[RFC3942], which declares that any pre-existing usages of option
numbers in the range 128 - 223 should be documented and the working
group will try to officially assign those numbers to those options.
The option is defined for DHCPv4 and works only with IPv4 addresses.
Status of this Memo
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provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
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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
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. TFTP Server Address Option Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
6.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
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1. Introduction
Voice over IP ("VoIP") devices, such as IP phones, have a need to
download their configuration from a configuration server on the
network. There are commonly accepted methods to discover this server
via DHCP; the "sname" field in the DHCP header [RFC2131], the "TFTP
Server name" option (#66) [RFC2132]. Both of these sources of
information, however, contain the TFTP server's hostname. That
hostname must then be translated to an IP address. The usual method
to accomplish this would be DNS [RFC1034]. This means the firmware
in a VoIP device (with possibly limited flash, memory, and/or
processing resources) would need to implement the DNS protocol in
order to perform this translation. This would also introduce an
additional unnecessary point of failure whereby the device is
dependent on the DNS server infrastructure in order to boot up and
communicate with its call agent.
In order to eliminate DNS as a point of failure and keep the firmware
in such a VoIP device to a minimum the "VoIP Configuration Server
Address" option (150) was introduced. This option allows the DHCP
server to pass one or more IP addresses of the VoIP Configuration
Server(s) instead of the hostname, thus making the information
directly usable by the VoIP device.
Other reasons for this option are that, (1) the "siaddr" field is not
configurable on some DHCP servers, (2) the "siaddr" field only allows
for one IPv4 address and it is desirable to have the ability to
configure multiple IP addresses for redundancy, (3) some DHCP servers
have been found to fill in their own IPv4 address as siaddr, (4) some
customers were already using the "siaddr" field for other purposes,
and finally (5) the configuration server may use a protocol other
than TFTP to serve configuration files, making the use of the "TFTP
Server name" option (option code 66) inappropriate.
In cases where other download server address information also appears
in the response packet, such as "sname" and "TFTP Server name", it is
left to the device to decide which piece of information to use.
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2. Conventions
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].
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3. TFTP Server Address Option Definition
The TFTP Server Address option is a DHCP option [RFC2132]. The
option contains one or more IPv4 addresses which the client MAY use.
The current use of this option is for downloading configuration from
a VoIP server via TFTP, however the option may be used for purposes
other than contacting a VoIP Configuration Server.
The format of the option is:
Code Len IPv4 Configuration Server Address(es)
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| 150 | n | IPv4 address | ...
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Figure 1
The option minimum length (n) is 4.
The "Len" field must specify a length which is an integral multiple
of 4 octets (4, 8, 12, etc.). If an option is received where this is
not the case, the option information MUST be ignored, but further
option processing may continue. Dividing this "Len" value by 4 will
give number of IPv4 VoIP Configuration Server addresses which are
specified in the option.
The option MUST NOT be specified by the DHCP Client as it is intended
only to be returned from the DHCP Server. If the DHCP Client wants
to receive this information from the server, it needs to include the
number 150 in the DHCP "Parameter List" option (55).
Server addresses SHOULD be listed in order of preference and the
client SHOULD use the addresses sequentially but may be configurable
to use addresses randomly. The client may use as many or as few of
the addresses provided as it likes. For example, if client is only
capable of accepting 2 configuration server addresses, it may ignore
any other addresses provided after the second address.
Each TFTP server address which is being used by the client should be
tried a total of 4 times with a 4 second wait time before proceeding
to the next address.
When this option appears along with the TFTP Server Name option
(option 66) [RFC2132], this option SHOULD have priority over option
66.
There is currently no defined IPv6 DHCP equivalent of this option.
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4. Security Considerations
A rogue DHCP Server could use this option in order to coerce a Client
into downloading configuration from an alternate Configuration Server
and thus gain control of the device's configuration. This, however,
is no more of a security threat than similar attacks using other DHCP
options which specify server names or addresses, of which there are
many. If this is a concern, then DHCP Authentication may be used,
but even secure delivery of an address over DHCP does not protect the
subsequent insecure download over TFTP. TFTP itself provides no
authentication or access control mechanisms, so even if DHCP messages
were authenticated, downloading the configuration would still be
insecure, unless some object-level security mechanisms would be used.
Where security concerns are an issue, it is suggested that
configuration files should be signed by a trusted agent.
Configuration files may also be encrypted based on a configuration
parameter on the DHCP client device. In other words, there are
various methods to ensure the integrity of configuration data
independent from insuring the integrity of the this DHCP option or
even DHCP itself. The full extent of such options is far too broad
to be addressed in this document.
Message authentication in DHCP for intradomain use where the out-of-
band exchange of a shared secret is feasible and is defined in
[RFC3118]. Potential exposures to attack are discussed in section 7
of the DHCP protocol specification in [RFC2131].
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5. IANA Considerations
IANA is requested to assign DHCP option number 150 for this option,
in accordance with [RFC3942].
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6. References
6.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC2131] Droms, R., "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol",
RFC 2131, March 1997.
[RFC2132] Alexander, S. and R. Droms, "DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor
Extensions", RFC 2132, March 1997.
[RFC3942] Volz, B., "Reclassifying Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol version 4 (DHCPv4) Options", RFC 3942,
November 2004.
6.2. Informative References
[RFC1034] Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - concepts and facilities",
STD 13, RFC 1034, November 1987.
[RFC3118] Droms, R. and W. Arbaugh, "Authentication for DHCP
Messages", RFC 3118, June 2001.
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Author's Address
Richard A. Johnson
Cisco Systems, Inc.
170 W. Tasman Dr.
San Jose, CA 95134
US
Phone: +1 408 526 4000
Email: raj@cisco.com
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