Subject: [eap] Section 2.4 Clarification

From: Bernard Aboba <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 22:21:12 -0700

Issue: Section 2.4 Clarification
Submitter name: Bernard Aboba
Submitter email address: [email-masked]
Date Submitted: May 23, 2007
Reference:
Document: NETSEL-07
Comment type: Editorial
Priority: S
Section: 2.4
Rationale/Explanation of issue: In reading through Section 2.4, it is not clear to me why the capabilities described are relevant or why the client cannot obtain them using existing mechanisms.  Some clarification is needed.  My suggestion is to rewrite Section 2.4 as follows: "2.4.  Network Capability Discovery    Network capability discovery focuses on discovery of    the services offered by networks, not just the capabilities    of individual points of attachment.  By acquiring additional   information on access network characteristics, it is possible   for users to make a more informed access decision.     These characteristics may include:     o  Roaming relationships between the access network provider and      other network providers and associated costs.  Where the      network access client is not preconfigured with an       identity and credentials corresponding to a local access      network, it will need to be able to determine whether       one or more home realms are reachable from an access network      so that successful authentication can be possible.     o  EAP authentication methods.  While the EAP authentication      methods supported by a home realm can only be determined by      contacting the home AAA server, it is possible that the       local realm will also support one or more EAP methods.       For example, a user may be able to utilize EAP-SIM to       authenticate to the access network directly, rather than       having to authenticate to the home network.     o  End-to-end quality of service capability.  While local      quality of services capabilities are typically advertised      by the access network (e.g. support for WMM), the availability      of end-to-end QoS services may not be advertised.     o  Service parameters, such as the existence of middleboxes or      firewalls.  If the network access client is not made aware      of the Internet access that it will receive on connecting to      a point of attachment, it is possible that the user may not      be able to access the desired services.     Reference [IEEE.11-04-0624] classifies the possible steps at which   IEEE 802.11 networks can acquire this information:    o  Pre-association   o  Post-association (or pre-authentication)   o  Post-authentication    In the interest of minimizing connectivity delays, all of    the information required for network selection (including both   access network capabilities and global characteristics) needs to    be provided prior to authentication.      By the time authentication occurs, the node has   typically selected the access network, the NAI to be used to   authenticate, as well as the point of attachment.  Should it learn   information during the authentication process that would cause it to   revise one or more of those decisions, the node will need to select a   new network, point of attachment, and/or identity, and then go   through the authentication process all over again.  Such a process is   likely to be both time consuming and unreliable."

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