Boeing Research & Technology

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I-D Internet-Draft IPv6 Parcels and Advanced Jumbos (AJs) present new data packaging constructs and a new link model for Internetworking. As is often the case, technologies developed in the IPv6 space can also be applied in IPv4 and vice-versa. This document presents the adaptations necessary to support Parcels and AJs in IPv4.

IPv6 Parcels and Advanced Jumbos (AJs) present new data packaging constructs and a new link model for Internetworking. As is often the case, technologies developed in the IPv6 space can also be applied in IPv4 and vice-versa. This document presents the differences that need to be addressed to adapt IPv6 Parcels and AJs to IPv4. All aspects of IPv6 Parcels and AJs, including the use of IP extension headers and control messaging, apply also to IPv4. Only differences in the IP header format and some control option encapsulations need to be accounted for. The same as for IPv6, IPv4 parcels represent a network encapsulation for the multi-segment buffers managed by Generic Segment Offload (GSO) and Generic Receive Offload (GRO); these buffers are now known as "parcel buffers". This document specifies IPv4 parcels and AJs.

IPv4 parcels and AJs observe all requirements established for IPv6 including the use of IPv6 Hop-by-Hop Options headers. This means that nodes that recognize IPv4 parcels/AJs MUST recognize and correctly process IP protocol 0 (Hop-by-Hop) extension headers the same as for IPv6 when they occur in an extension header chain following the IPv4 header but before the upper layer payload. When an IPv4 router or destination end system processes a parcel probe for which the IPv4 Protocol field encodes an unrecognized value (such as 0 for Hop-by-Hop Options), it drops the probe and returns an ICMPv4 "Destination Unreachable - Protocol Unreachable" message . The source should regard any such messages as an advisory indication that OMNI protocol UDP encapsulation may be necessary in future probes. The use of IPv4 extension headers is specified in . The same as for IPv6, IPv4 Parcels and AJs are closely related to the AERO and OMNI specifications. The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.

All aspects of are imported as normative specifications for IPv4 parcels and AJs, with the exception of the following differences:

The IPv6 header includes a "Payload Length" field defined as the: "Length of the IPv6 payload, i.e., the rest of the packet following this IPv6 header, in octets". The IPv4 header instead includes a "Total Length" field defined as: "the length of the datagram, measured in octets, including internet header and data". IPv4 parcels/AJs must set the Total Length to a size that includes at least the IP headers plus optionally a leading portion of the payload up to as much as the entire length. This length value determines the hop-by-hop integrity checking threshold for parcel/AJ-capable links.

The IPv4 "Time To Live (TTL)" and IPv6 "Hop Limit" values are treated in exactly the same way in both protocol versions. In particular, the source sets the TTL/Hop Limit to an initial value and each router in the path to the destination decrements the TTL/Hop Limit by 1 when it forwards a parcel/AJ/probe. (Note that this represents a parcel/AJ-specific requirement for IPv4 routers, since permits routers to decrement TTL by values other than 1.)

The same as for IPv6, the Parcel/Jumbo Payload Length field in the Parcel Payload Option of IPv4 parcels/AJs encodes the length of the IPv6 extension headers plus the length of the {TCP,UDP} header plus the combined length of all concatenated segments with their per-segment headers/trailers. Therefore, the length of the IPv4 header itself is not included in the Parcel/Jumbo Payload Length field the same as for IPv6. The IPv4 header length for IPv4 parcels and AJs is instead determined by the Internet Header Length (IHL) field.

Whenever an IPv4 address needs to be coded in an IPv6 address field, the address is coded as an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address as specified in .

When a node performs packetization on a {TCP,UDP}/IPv4 parcel, it inserts a {TCP,UDP} Parcel Parameters Option the same as for IPv6 . Packetization of IPv4 parcels is equivalent to Generic Segment Offload (GSO). The IPv4 destination then performs restoration by gathering up IPv4 packets that arrive with the same upper layer 5-tuple and with Parcel Parameters information including the same Identification. The Parcel Parameters Identification and Index then determine the ordinal position of each packet segment to be concatenated into the restoration buffer, i.e., the same as for IPv6. (Note: if the IPv4 destination does not recognize the {TCP,UDP} Parcel Parameters Option, it simply processes the packet as a singleton IPv4 packet. This would result in correct behavior, but with restoration disabled. Restoration of IPv4 parcels is equivalent to Generic Receive Offload (GRO).)

When an IPv4 router or destination receives an intact IPv4 packet with a Parcel Probe Option, it processes the probe the same as specified for IPv6 . When an IPv4 router forwards the probe, it MUST decrement the TTL by exactly 1 the same as specified for the IPv6 Hop Limit . When an IPv4 destination receives a parcel probe, it should return a Parcel Parameters Option in any {TCP,UDP}/IPv4 packet to be returned to the source the same as for IPv6. When the IPv4 source receives a {TCP,UDP} packet that includes a Parcel Parameters Option it matches the Identification value with its recently-transmitted probes. If there is a match, the source accepts the MTU and Parcel Limit values found in the Parcel Parameters Option.

When an IPv4 router returns a Parcel/Jumbo Reply, it prepares an ICMPv4 message according to with Type set to TBD1 and with Code set to TBD2 for a Parcel Reply or TBD3 for a Jumbo Reply (see: IANA Considerations). The router populates the ICMPv4 message header fields, then copies up to 576 octets from the parcel/AJ into the ICMPv4 message body. The router then calculates and sets the ICMPv4 Checksum and returns the message to the parcel/AJ source.

All aspects of IPv4 Advanced Jumbos (AJ) are processed the same as for IPv6 AJs.

Original IPv4 parcels/AJs can follow the "e(X)treme" forwarding paths across successive OMNI links in the path using "jumbo-in-jumbo" encapsulation the same as for IPv6. The OMNI link ingress encapsulates each IPv4 parcel/AJ in an OMNI IPv6 header plus any outer L2 encapsulations which may include an IPv4 header with a Parcel Payload Option with Advanced Jumbo Type 0. All aspects of this "jumbo-in-jumbo" encapsulation are the same as for IPv6.

To support the IPv4 parcel/AJ header checksum calculation, the network layer uses modified versions of the {TCP,UDP}/IPv4 pseudo-header found in . Note that while the contents of the two IP protocol version-specific pseudo-headers beyond the address fields are the same, the order in which the contents are arranged differs and must be honored according to the specific IP protocol version. The IPv6 pseudo-header is found in , while the IPv4 pseudo-header is shown in . The similarities between the two pseudo-headers allows for maximal reuse of widely deployed code while ensuring interoperability.

For parcels, the 4-octets of the Parcel/Jumbo Payload Length encode the Index/X/S preamble and 24-bit Parcel Payload Length as they appear in the Parcel Payload Option fields of the same name. For AJs, the Jumbo Payload Length encodes the 4-octet Jumbo Payload Length value found in the Parcel Payload Option.

An early prototype of UDP/IPv4 parcels (draft version -15) has been implemented relative to the linux-5.10.67 kernel and ION-DTN ion-open-source-4.1.0 source distributions. Patch distribution found at: "https://github.com/fltemplin/ip-parcels.git".

The IANA is instructed to assign a new Type number TBD1 in the 'icmp-parameters' registry "ICMP Type Numbers" table (registration procedures IESG Approval or Standards Action). The entry should set "Type" to TBD1, "Name" to "Packet Too Big (PTB)" and "Reference" to [RFCXXXX] (i.e., this document). The IANA is further instructed to create a new table titled: "Type TBD1 - Packet Too Big (PTB)" in the 'icmp-parameters' Code tables, with registration procedures IESG Approval or Standards Action. The table should have the following initial format:

Security Considerations are the same as for IPv6 as found in .

This work was inspired by ongoing AERO/OMNI/DTN investigations. The concepts were further motivated through discussions with colleagues. Honoring life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

<< RFC Editor - remove prior to publication >> Changes from version -07 to -08: Add terminology and general cleanup. Changes from version -06 to -07: Removed defunct text on parcel probe responses. Changes from version -05 to -06: Moved all per-segment integrity checks into Parcel Integrity Block header. This allows hop-by-hop integrity checking of the end-to-end integrity check values. Changes from earlier versions: Submit for review.