Subject: [Capwap] Issue 219: Encoding of MAC Address in X.509 certificate needs to be clear

From: "Pat Calhoun (pacalhou)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2008 14:26:47 -0700

All,

The following issue was raised during the IESG Review:

>> Beyond the core of Chris' discuss, there are some interoperability
> concerns that should be addressed.  The common name
>> attribute is a directoryString, which can be encoded using any of
> several different string types.  As described, the
>> MAC address can always be encoded using a PrintableString.  While I
> would suggest verifying this against the installed
>> base, the specification should indicate which string type is used 
>> with
> the common name attribute to represent the MAC
>> address.

Fair enough, and I see that we were not very specific in this regard. 
I believe the text should read:

<proposed text>
   CAPWAP implementations MUST support certificates where the common
   name (CN) for both the WTP and AC is the MAC address of that device.
   The MAC address MUST be encoded in the PrintableString format, using
   the well recognized MAC address format of 01:23:45:67:89:ab.  The
   CN field MAY contain either of the EUI-48 [EUI-48] or EUI-64 [EUI-64]
   MAC Address formats.  This seemingly unconventional use of the CN
   field is consistent with other standards that rely on device
   certificates that are provisioned during the manufacturing process,
   such as Packet Cable [PacketCable], Cable Labs [CableLabs] and WiMAX
   [WiMAX].
</proposed text>

The commenter has agreed with the resolution.

PatC
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