Subject: Re: (ION) ILMI-Based Server Discovery

From: Tim Salo <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 20:07:23 -0500 (EST)

To: Tim Salo <[email-masked]>
cc: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Subject: Re: (ION) ILMI-Based Server Discovery 
Date: Mon, 09 Nov 1998 12:13:21 -0800
From: Mike Davison <[email-masked]>
	[...]
> I'm not familiar with 'ATMDHCP'. Is there a draft for this? 

I'm not familiar with it either; I just made it up.

About I know about an alleged ATMDHCP is:

o	The Cisco ATM Cable Interface Processor (ACIP) claims to
	support DHCP, in conjunction with Terayon's TeraComm System
	equipment (http://www.teracomm.com/), over cable TV systems.
	Apparently, the ACIP uses a PVC to "each active subscriber
	modem.  PVCs are created automatically..."
	See: http://cio-sys.cisco.com/warp/public/730/AIP/acip_ov.htm and
	http://www.cisco.com/univercd/cc/td/doc/product/core/cis7505/
		7310cfig/4256acip.htm

o	Join Systems, Inc. claims that their DHCP product supports
	"TCP/IP and ATM networks", (http://www.join.com/dhcp.html).
	I have no other information about how the Join Systems ATM/DHCP
	solution works.

o	IANA assigned a BOOTP/DHCP extension number for use by "DHCP
	relay agents which terminate switched or permanent circuits".
	http://www.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/
		bootp-dhcp-extensions/bootp-dhcp-option-83

o	E-mail to the IETF DHC and ION working groups asking if anyone
	knew anything about DHCP over ATM networks has received no
	responses.

Beyond that, it seems to me that we all ought to be a bit embarrassed that,
and someone please correct me if I am wrong, IETF protocols don't support
DHCP over ATM networks.

-tjs

---

From: Tim Salo <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 18:19:17 -0500 (EST)

> Sender: [email-masked]
> 	[...]
> As to how server discovery will allow a diskless host to learn it's ip
> address, there are several ways. A few are:
> 
>     o  Use server discovery to locate a mars then broadcast a dhcp 
>        request using mars,
> 	[...]

I think using ILMI to learn the address of one or more servers is useful.
However, I have some concerns about using MARS to find a DHCP server.

My primary concern is that while using a broadcast service (either native
or emulated) to find a server may make sense in a local-area network, it
probably doesn't make sense in a wide-area network.  I think we should
re-affirm the long-standing IETF strategy of developing protocols for
wide-area networks and then applying them in local environments, (numerous
counter-examples notwithstanding).

I am also concerned that the IETF solution for IP broadcast over NBMA
networks has not found market acceptance.  The last time I wanted to
buy a MARS server, I was unable to find any commercial product.

Does anyone know of any commercial ATM products that provide a MARS
server?

-tjs

[Gratuitous whining section]

(Using a emulated broadcast function on NBMA networks to support IP
protocols that require a link-level broadcast is what I sometimes
call the "make everything look like an Ethernet" strategy.)

((This is supposed to be the _Internet_ Engineering Task Force, not the
LAN Engineering Task Force...))