Subject: RADIUS Calling-Station-Id for WiMAX

From: Bernard Aboba <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 15:39:52 -0700

Some questions have arisen about the format of the Calling-Station-Id Attribute when used with WiMAX. 

Since WiMAX is based on IEEE 802.16, and RFC 3580 applies to IEEE 802 technology, it would seem that the RFC 3580 Calling-Station-Id definition would apply to WiMAX.  

Are there reasons why this would not be the case?

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From: "Glen Zorn" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 16:53:12 -0700

Bernard Aboba [mailto://bernard_aboba@ hotmail.com] writes:

Some questions have arisen about the format of the Calling-Station-Id
Attribute when used with WiMAX. 

Since WiMAX is based on IEEE 802.16, and RFC 3580 applies to IEEE 802
technology, it would seem that the RFC 3580 Calling-Station-Id definition
would apply to WiMAX.  

Not that I know of; in fact, the last time I checked that was what the WiMAX
docs specified.

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From: Alan DeKok <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:33:07 +0200

Glen Zorn wrote:
> Not that I know of; in fact, the last time I checked that was what the
> WiMAX docs specified.

  NWG R1 v1.2 Stage 3.doc, page 446 says:

    5.4.1.6.3 User Identification
...
Calling-Station-Id 31 The MAC address in binary format of the MS

  Ugh.  And it really is in binary.  It's 6 octets of the Ethernet
address, not 15 octets of the ASCII version of the Ethernet address.

  Also, the GMT-Timezone-offset attribute (3) is a 32-bit "signed"
integer, as a time-zone offset from GMT: -12 to +12.  Instead of 0-24.

  Alan DeKok.

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From: "Matt Holdrege" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:44:11 -0700

I don't see any reason why RADIUS should differentiate between 802.16
and 802.11 or any other 802. 

-Matt

From: [email-masked] [mailto:[email-masked]]
On Behalf Of Bernard Aboba
Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 12:40 AM
To: Congdon, Paul T (ProCurve); Mike Bean; David Nelson;
[email-masked]; Dan Romascanu
Subject: RADIUS Calling-Station-Id for WiMAX

Since WiMAX is based on IEEE 802.16, and RFC 3580 applies to IEEE 802
technology, it would seem that the RFC 3580 Calling-Station-Id
definition would apply to WiMAX.

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From: "David B. Nelson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:32:48 -0400

Alan DeKok writes...

> address, not 15 octets of the ASCII version of the Ethernet address.

That's a direct interoperability issue, between WiMAX ports and other types
of network access ports.  I think that having application-domain-specific
syntax and semantics for standard RADIUS attributes is a very bad idea.  It
certainly complicates the development and maintenance of RADIUS server
software that is deployed across such application-domain boundaries.
 
> integer, as a time-zone offset from GMT: -12 to +12.  Instead of 0-24.

If the GMT-Timezone-Offset Attribute was initially defined in WiMAX, they
can define the syntax and semantics how that want.  Choosing to diverge from
standard usage in other protocols, as in this example, is probably a bad
idea as well, but for slightly different interoperability reasons, i.e. it
raises the likelihood of programmer error.

---

From: Mike Bean <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 09:57:32 -0700

Alan,

It's actually 17 ASCII characters ( 12 hex + 5 dashes ).  Alcatel-Lucent 
will be submitting change request (CR) to change NWG R1 Stage 3 to use 
RFC 3580 compliant format.  Alcatel-Lucent ASN-GW and AAA assumed RFC 
3580 compliant Calling-Station-Id and recently noticed binary version 
proposed by NWG R1 Stage 3.  Even if Calling-Station-Id format was not 
RFC 3580 compliant, I think traditionally it has always been an ASCII 
value not binary.  I believe a position from RADIUS Extensions WG could 
help support WiMAX Forum CR.  So far it appears there is agreement on a 
RFC 3580 compliant Calling-Station-Id for use with WiMAX.  Given 
Calling-Station-Id is an IETF attribute not a WiMAX Forum VSA, I think 
IETF has some say in the matter.

Thanks,

Mike

Michael Bean (Mike)
Alcatel-Lucent
AAA Product Group
3461 Robin Ln, Ste 1
Cameron Park, CA 95682
Email: [email-masked]
Phone: 530 672 7577
Fax: 530 676 3442

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From: "David B. Nelson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:03:46 -0400

Alan DeKok writes...

> integer, as a time-zone offset from GMT: -12 to +12.  Instead of 0-24.

A bit of clarification here, based on some offline discussion.  Alan's issue
is with the introduction of a signed integer data type into RADIUS.  RFC
2865 provides for only unsigned integers.   Alan thinks that creating a new
"base" RADIUS data type may cause problems for server implementations.