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IETF RFC 5970
DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot
Last modified on Tuesday, September 14th, 2010
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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) T. Huth
Request for Comments: 5970 J. Freimann
Category: Standards Track IBM Germany R&D GmbH
ISSN: 2070-1721 V. Zimmer
Intel
D. Thaler
Microsoft
September 2010
DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot
 Abstract
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6) provides a
framework for passing configuration information to nodes on a
network. This document describes new options for DHCPv6 that SHOULD
be used for booting a node from the network.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/RFC 5970.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2010 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Huth, et al. Standards Track PAGE 1 
RFC 5970 DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot September 2010
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................2
2. Conventions .....................................................3
3. Options .........................................................3
3.1. Boot File Uniform Resource Locator (URL) Option ............3
3.2. Boot File Parameters Option ................................4
3.3. Client System Architecture Type Option .....................5
3.4. Client Network Interface Identifier Option .................6
4. Appearance of the Options .......................................7
5. Download Protocol Considerations ................................7
6. IANA Considerations .............................................7
7. Security Considerations .........................................8
8. Acknowledgements ................................................8
9. References ......................................................9
9.1. Normative References .......................................9
9.2. Informative References .....................................9
1. Introduction
This document describes DHCPv6 options that SHOULD be used to provide
configuration information for a node that must be booted using the
network rather than from local storage.
Network booting is used, for example, in some environments where
administrators have to maintain a large number of nodes. By serving
all boot and configuration files from a central server, the effort
required to maintain these nodes is greatly reduced.
A typical boot file would be, for example, an operating system kernel
or a boot-loader program. To be able to execute such a file, the
firmware running on the client node must perform the following two
steps (see Figure 1): First get all information that is required for
downloading and executing the boot file. Second, download the boot
file and execute it.
+------+
_______________________\| DHCP |
/ 1 Get boot file info /|Server|
+------+ +------+
| Host |
+------+ +------+
\_______________________\| File |
2 Download boot file /|Server|
+------+
Figure 1: Network Boot Sequence
Huth, et al. Standards Track PAGE 2
RFC 5970 DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot September 2010
The information that is required for booting over the network MUST
include at least the details about the server on which the boot files
can be found, the protocol to be used for the download (for example,
HTTP [RFC 2616] or TFTP [RFC 1350]), and the path and name of the boot
file on the server. Additionally, the server and client MAY exchange
information about the parameters that should be passed to the OS
kernel or boot-loader program, respectively, or information about the
supported boot environment.
DHCPv6 allows client nodes to ask a DHCPv6 server for configuration
parameters. This document provides new options that a client can
request from the DHCPv6 server to satisfy its requirements for
booting. It also introduces a new IANA registry for processor
architecture types that are used by the OPTION_CLIENT_ARCH_TYPE
option (see Section 3.3).
2. Conventions
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC 2119].
Terminology specific to IPv6 and DHCPv6 are used in the same way as
is defined in the "Terminology" sections of [RFC 3315].
3. Options
Option formats comply with DHCPv6 options per [RFC 3315] (Section 6).
The boot-file-url option (see Section 3.1) is mandatory for booting,
all other options are optional.
3.1. Boot File Uniform Resource Locator (URL) Option
The server sends this option to inform the client about a URL to a
boot file.
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| OPT_BOOTFILE_URL | option-len |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
. boot-file-url (variable length) .
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Huth, et al. Standards Track PAGE 3
RFC 5970 DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot September 2010
Format description:
option-code OPT_BOOTFILE_URL (59).
option-len Length of the boot-file-url in octets.
boot-file-url This string is the URL for the boot file. It MUST
comply with STD 66 [RFC 3986]. The string is not
NUL-terminated.
If the host in the URL is expressed using an IPv6 address rather than
a domain name, the address in the URL then MUST be enclosed in "["
and "]" characters, conforming to [RFC 3986]. Clients that have DNS
implementations SHOULD support the use of domain names in the URL.
3.2. Boot File Parameters Option
This option is sent by the server to the client. It consists of
multiple UTF-8 ([RFC 3629]) strings. They are used to specify
parameters for the boot file (similar to the command line arguments
in most modern operating systems). For example, these parameters
could be used to specify the root file system of the OS kernel, or
the location from which a second-stage boot-loader program can
download its configuration file.
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| OPT_BOOTFILE_PARAM | option-len |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| param-len 1 | |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ parameter 1 .
. (variable length) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
. .
. <multiple Parameters> .
. .
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| param-len n | |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ parameter n .
. (variable length) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Huth, et al. Standards Track PAGE 4
RFC 5970 DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot September 2010
Format description:
option-code OPT_BOOTFILE_PARAM (60).
option-len Length of the Boot File Parameters option in octets
(not including the size of the option-code and
option-len fields).
param-len 1...n This is a 16-bit integer that specifies the length
of the following parameter in octets (not including
the parameter-length field).
parameter 1...n These UTF-8 strings are parameters needed for
booting, e.g., kernel parameters. The strings are
not NUL-terminated.
When the boot firmware executes the boot file that has been specified
in the OPT_BOOTFILE_URL option, it MUST pass these parameters, if
present, in the order that they appear in the OPT_BOOTFILE_PARAM
option.
3.3. Client System Architecture Type Option
This option provides parity with the Client System Architecture Type
option defined for DHCPv4 in Section 2.1 of [RFC 4578].
The format of the option is:
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| OPTION_CLIENT_ARCH_TYPE | option-len |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
. .
. architecture-types (variable length) .
. .
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
option-code OPTION_CLIENT_ARCH_TYPE (61).
option-len Length of the "architecture-types" field in
octets. It MUST be an even number greater than
zero. See Section 2.1 of [RFC 4578] for details.
architecture-types A list of one or more architecture types, as
specified in Section 2.1 of [RFC 4578]. Each
architecture type identifier in this list is a
16-bit value that describes the pre-boot runtime
Huth, et al. Standards Track PAGE 5
RFC 5970 DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot September 2010
environment of the client machine. A list of
valid values is maintained by the IANA (see
Section 6).
The client MAY use this option to send a list of supported
architecture types to the server, so the server can decide which boot
file should be provided to the client. If a client supports more
than one pre-boot environment (for example, both 32-bit and 64-bit
executables), the most preferred architecture type MUST be listed as
first item, followed by the others with descending priority.
If the client used this option in the request, the server SHOULD
include this option to inform the client about the pre-boot
environments that are supported by the boot file. The list MUST only
contain architecture types that have initially been queried by the
client. The items MUST also be listed in order of descending
priority.
3.4. Client Network Interface Identifier Option
If the client supports the Universal Network Device Interface (UNDI)
(see [PXE21] and [UEFI23]), it may send the Client Network Interface
Identifier option to a DHCP server to provide information about its
level of UNDI support.
This option provides parity with the Client Network Interface
Identifier option defined for DHCPv4 in Section 2.2 of [RFC 4578].
The format of the option is:
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| OPTION_NII | option-len |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Type | Major | Minor |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
option-code OPTION_NII (62).
option-len 3
Type As specified in Section 2.2 of [RFC 4578].
Major As specified in Section 2.2 of [RFC 4578].
Minor As specified in Section 2.2 of [RFC 4578].
Huth, et al. Standards Track PAGE 6
RFC 5970 DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot September 2010
The list of valid Type, Major, and Minor values is maintained in the
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface specification [UEFI23].
4. Appearance of the Options
These options MUST NOT appear in DHCPv6 messages other than the types
Solicit, Advertise, Request, Renew, Rebind, Information-Request, and
Reply.
The option-codes of these options MAY appear in the Option Request
option in the DHCPv6 message types Solicit, Request, Renew, Rebind,
Information-Request, and Reconfigure.
5. Download Protocol Considerations
The Boot File URL option does not place any constraints on the
protocol used for downloading the boot file, other than that it MUST
be possible to specify it in a URL. For the sake of administrative
simplicity, we strongly recommend that, at a minimum, implementers of
network boot loaders implement the well-known and established
HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) [RFC 2616] for downloading. Please
note that for IPv6, this supersedes [RFC 906], which recommended using
TFTP for downloading (see [RFC 3617] for the 'tftp' URL definition).
When using the Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) for
booting, the 'iscsi' URI is formed as defined in [RFC 4173]. The
functionality attributed in RFC 4173 to a root path option is
provided for IPv6 by the Boot File URL option instead.
6. IANA Considerations
The following options have been assigned by the IANA from the option
number space defined in Section 24 of the DHCPv6 RFC [RFC 3315].
+-------------------------+-------+--------------+
| Option name | Value | Specified in |
+-------------------------+-------+--------------+
| OPT_BOOTFILE_URL | 59 | Section 3.1 |
| OPT_BOOTFILE_PARAM | 60 | Section 3.2 |
| OPTION_CLIENT_ARCH_TYPE | 61 | Section 3.3 |
| OPTION_NII | 62 | Section 3.4 |
+-------------------------+-------+--------------+
This document also introduces a new IANA registry for processor
architecture types. The name of this registry is "Processor
Architecture Types". Registry entries consist of a 16-bit integer
recorded in decimal format and a descriptive name. The initial
values of this registry can be found in [RFC 4578], Section 2.1.
Huth, et al. Standards Track PAGE 7
RFC 5970 DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot September 2010
The assignment policy for values is through Expert Review (see
[RFC 5226]), and any requests for values must supply the descriptive
name for the processor architecture type.
7. Security Considerations
In untrusted networks, a rogue DHCPv6 server could send the new
DHCPv6 options described in this document. The booting clients could
then be provided with a wrong URL so that either the boot fails or,
even worse, the client boots the wrong operating system that has been
provided by a malicious file server. To prevent this kind of attack,
clients SHOULD use authentication of DHCPv6 messages (see Section 21
in [RFC 3315]).
Note also that DHCPv6 messages are sent unencrypted by default. So
the boot file URL options are sent unencrypted over the network, too.
This can become a security risk since the URLs can contain sensitive
information like user names and passwords (for example, a URL like
"ftp://username:password@servername/path/file"). At the current
point in time, there is no possibility to send encrypted DHCPv6
messages, so it is strongly RECOMMENDED not to use sensitive
information in the URLs in untrusted networks (using passwords in
URLs is deprecated anyway, according to [RFC 3986]).
Even if the DHCPv6 transaction is secured, this does not protect
against attacks on the boot file download channel. Consequently, we
recommend that either (a) implementers use protocols like HTTPS
[RFC 2818] or Transport Layer Security (TLS) within HTTP [RFC 2817] to
prevent spoofing or (b) the boot-loader software implement a
mechanism for signing boot images and a configurable signing key.
The latter is done so that if a malicious image is provided, it can
be detected and rejected.
8. Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Ruth Li, Dong Wei, Kathryn Hampton,
Phil Dorah, Richard Chan, and Fiona Jensen for discussions that led
to this document.
The authors would also like to thank Ketan P. Pancholi, Alfred
Hoenes, Gabriel Montenegro, and Ted Lemon for corrections and
suggestions.
Huth, et al. Standards Track PAGE 8
RFC 5970 DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot September 2010
9. References
9.1. Normative References
[PXE21] Johnston, M., "Preboot Execution Environment (PXE)
Specification", September 1999,
<http://www.pix.net/software/pxeboot/archive/pxespec.pdf>.
[RFC 2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC 3315] Droms, R., Bound, J., Volz, B., Lemon, T., Perkins, C.,
and M. Carney, "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for
IPv6 (DHCPv6)", RFC 3315, July 2003.
[RFC 3629] Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, November 2003.
[RFC 3986] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66,
RFC 3986, January 2005.
[RFC 4173] Sarkar, P., Missimer, D., and C. Sapuntzakis,
"Bootstrapping Clients using the Internet Small Computer
System Interface (iSCSI) Protocol", RFC 4173,
September 2005.
[RFC 4578] Johnston, M. and S. Venaas, "Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol (DHCP) Options for the Intel Preboot eXecution
Environment (PXE)", RFC 4578, November 2006.
[RFC 5226] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an
IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 5226,
May 2008.
[UEFI23] UEFI Forum, "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
Specification, Version 2.3", May 2009,
<http://www.uefi.org/>.
9.2. Informative References
[RFC 906] Finlayson, R., "Bootstrap Loading using TFTP", RFC 906,
June 1984.
[RFC 1350] Sollins, K., "The TFTP Protocol (Revision 2)", STD 33,
RFC 1350, July 1992.
Huth, et al. Standards Track PAGE 9
RFC 5970 DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot September 2010
[RFC 2616] Fielding, R., Gettys, J., Mogul, J., Frystyk, H.,
Masinter, L., Leach, P., and T. Berners-Lee, "Hypertext
Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.1", RFC 2616, June 1999.
[RFC 2817] Khare, R. and S. Lawrence, "Upgrading to TLS Within
HTTP/1.1", RFC 2817, May 2000.
[RFC 2818] Rescorla, E., "HTTP Over TLS", RFC 2818, May 2000.
[RFC 3617] Lear, E., "Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) Scheme and
Applicability Statement for the Trivial File Transfer
Protocol (TFTP)", RFC 3617, October 2003.
Huth, et al. Standards Track PAGE 10
RFC 5970 DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot September 2010
Authors' Addresses
Thomas H. Huth
IBM Germany Research & Development GmbH
Schoenaicher Strasse 220
Boeblingen 71032
Germany
Phone: +49-7031-16-2183
EMail: thuth@de.ibm.com
Jens T. Freimann
IBM Germany Research & Development GmbH
Schoenaicher Strasse 220
Boeblingen 71032
Germany
Phone: +49-7031-16-1122
EMail: jfrei@de.ibm.com
Vincent Zimmer
Intel
2800 Center Drive
DuPont WA 98327
USA
Phone: +1 253 371 5667
EMail: vincent.zimmer@intel.com
Dave Thaler
Microsoft
One Microsoft Way
Redmond WA 98052
USA
Phone: +1 425 703-8835
EMail: dthaler@microsoft.com
Huth, et al. Standards Track PAGE 11
DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot
RFC TOTAL SIZE: 22660 bytes
PUBLICATION DATE: Tuesday, September 14th, 2010
LEGAL RIGHTS: The IETF Trust (see BCP 78)
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