Subject: [manet] query about non unique interface card addresses

From: Faisal Adeem Siddiqui <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2005 23:48:14 +0900

Hi,
Can anybody please tell me for which data-link layer solutions the interface cards do not have unique addresses ?

Thanks.
Faisal Adeem Siddiqui

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ali Hamidian 
  To: Faisal Adeem Siddiqui 
  Cc: [email-masked] ; [email-masked] 
  Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2004 1:16 AM
  Subject: Re: [manet] using IPv6 addresses in MANET

  Faisal,

  In "MANETconf: Configuration of Hosts in a Mobile Ad Hoc Network" (Section III.C - Hardware-based Addressing) the authors list five points to why using IPv6 addresses+Ehternet addresses is not a good idea:

  1. MANET nodes are not restricted to using network interface cards (NICs) with 48-bit IEEE-assigned uniqueMAC addresses. In fact, the TCP/IP protocol stack should work on a variety of data-link layer implementations. So, if this approach is employed, specific implementations would be required for each type of hardware. What if the underlying data-link layer solutions corresponds to GSM, Bluetooth, etc.?

  2. For some data-link layer solutions the interface cards do not have unique addresses.

  3. It is possible to change the MAC address of cards, either by reprogramming the EEPROM in which the address is stored or through commands like ifconfig. So, uniqueness of MAC addresses cannot be guaranteed.

  4. There are known instances of multiple NIC cards from the same vendor having the same MAC address.

  5. With hardware-based addressing the identity of a node can be easily determined from its IP address. This raises concerns about privacy.

  Regards
  Ali

  Faisal Adeem Siddiqui wrote: 
    hi all,
    When two MANETs merge, IP address conflicts can occur. If any node changes its address then problems like broken routing fabrics and broken on going communications occur. I am wondering if MANETs use IPv6 addresses (since IPv6 addresses are based on MAC addresses and are therefore unique), these problems will not occur ? Or there can be situations when even IPv6 addresses will conflict ? 

    Faisal.  

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