Subject: [Coin] Discussion on Internet addressing

From: Dirk Trossen <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2021 12:44:46 +0000

Dear all,

I wanted to draw the attention to those subscribed to this list to ongoing work in the INT area, which was presented at the recent IETF111 int-area meeting on 31st of July.

This work outlines problems with and gaps of current solutions to Internet addressing. Specifically, we listed a number of communication scenarios and issues that may occur in those scenarios regarding Internet addressing, summarized in the first draft at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-jia-intarea-scenarios-problems-addressing/

We then performed an initial gap analysis, which can be found at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-jia-intarea-internet-addressing-gap-analysis/, in which we listed a number of extensions (including some works previously presented in COIN) to key properties of Internet addressing, positioning those extensions as solutions to identified gaps to the identified properties. We then discussed possible problems and issues related to (1) limiting address semantics, (2) complexity and efficiency, (3) security and (4) fragility that can be linked to those extensions.

The intention of both drafts at this stage is to stimulate a discussion on evolving Internet addressing beyond the many point solutions that we can see (and have partially identified in the drafts) towards an architectural but, most importantly, an extensible and sustainable approach to Internet addressing.

Given this intention, we hope that this discussion (and its intention) is of interest to this community, given that addressing has been identified in some drafts as a topic of interest to think about when intertwining computing and networking into a single framework.

We would therefore solicit any comments and feedback on the activity, the specific approach of the drafts and its contents.

Furthermore, if you are interested in contributing to this discussion through working with us, please do drop an email (on the list or directly to us).

Best regards,

Dirk (on behalf of the co-authors)