DHCPv6 FQDN option: The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6) Client Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) Option
How a DHCPv6 client tells the server its domain name, and who then updates the DNS records.
Volz, B., "The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6) Client Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) Option", RFC 4704, DOI 10.17487/RFC4704, October 2006, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4704>.
@misc{rfc4704,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 4704,
howpublished = {RFC 4704},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC4704},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4704},
author = {B. Volz},
title = {{The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6) Client Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) Option}},
pagetotal = 15,
year = 2006,
month = oct,
} RFC text
Contents
Network Working Group B. Volz
Request for Comments: 4704 Cisco Systems, Inc.
Category: Standards Track October 2006
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6) Client
Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) Option
Status of This Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2006).
Abstract
This document specifies a new Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for
IPv6 (DHCPv6) option that can be used to exchange information about a
DHCPv6 client's Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) and about
responsibility for updating DNS resource records (RRs) related to the
client's address assignments.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................3
2. Terminology .....................................................3
3. Models of Operation .............................................3
4. The DHCPv6 Client FQDN Option ...................................4
4.1. The Flags Field ............................................5
4.2. The Domain Name Field ......................................6
5. DHCPv6 Client Behavior ..........................................7
5.1. Client Desires to Update AAAA RRs ..........................7
5.2. Client Desires Server to Do DNS Updates ....................7
5.3. Client Desires No Server DNS Updates .......................7
5.4. Domain Name and DNS Update Issues ..........................8
6. DHCPv6 Server Behavior ..........................................9
6.1. When to Perform DNS Updates ................................9
7. DNS RR TTLs ....................................................10
8. DNS Update Conflicts ...........................................11
9. IANA Considerations ............................................11
10. Security Considerations .......................................12
11. Acknowledgements ..............................................12
12. References ....................................................13
12.1. Normative References .....................................13
12.2. Informative References ...................................13
1. Introduction
DNS ([2], [3]) maintains (among other things) the information about
mapping between hosts' Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs) [10] and
IPv6 addresses assigned to the hosts. The information is maintained
in two types of Resource Records (RRs): AAAA and PTR [12]. The DNS
update specification [4] describes a mechanism that enables DNS
information to be updated over a network.
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6) [5]
provides a mechanism by which a host (a DHCPv6 client) can acquire
certain configuration information, along with its stateful IPv6
address(es). This document specifies a new DHCPv6 option, the Client
FQDN option, which can be used by DHCPv6 clients and servers to
exchange information about the client's fully qualified domain name
and about who has the responsibility for updating the DNS with the
associated AAAA and PTR RRs.
2. Terminology
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 [1].
Familiarity with the DNS Update protocol [4] and with DHCPv6 and its
terminology, as defined in [5], is assumed.
3. Models of Operation
When a DHCPv6 client acquires an address, a site's administrator may
desire that the AAAA RR for the client's FQDN and the PTR RR for the
acquired address be updated. Therefore, two separate DNS update
transactions may occur. Acquiring an address via DHCPv6 involves two
entities: a DHCPv6 client and a DHCPv6 server. In principle, each of
these entities could perform none, one, or both of the DNS update
transactions. However, in practice, not all permutations make sense.
The DHCPv6 Client FQDN option is primarily intended to operate in the
following two cases:
1. DHCPv6 client updates the AAAA RR; DHCPv6 server updates the PTR
RR.
2. DHCPv6 server updates both the AAAA and the PTR RRs.
The only difference between these two cases is whether the FQDN-to-
IPv6-address mapping is updated by a DHCPv6 client or by a DHCPv6
server. The IPv6-address-to-FQDN mapping is updated by a DHCPv6
server in both cases.
The reason these two are important, while others are unlikely, has to
do with authority over the respective DNS domain names. A DHCPv6
client may be given authority over mapping its own AAAA RRs, or that
authority may be restricted to a server to prevent the client from
listing arbitrary addresses or associating its addresses with
arbitrary domain names. In all cases, the only reasonable place for
the authority over the PTR RRs associated with the address is in the
DHCPv6 server that allocates the address.
Note: A third case is supported in which the client requests that the
server perform no updates. However, this case is presumed to be rare
because of the authority issues.
In any case, whether a site permits all, some, or no DHCPv6 servers
and clients to perform DNS updates into the zones that it controls is
entirely a matter of local administrative policy. This document does
not require any specific administrative policy and does not propose
one. The range of possible policies is very broad, from sites where
only the DHCPv6 servers have been given credentials that the DNS
servers will accept, to sites where each individual DHCPv6 client has
been configured with credentials that allow the client to modify its
own domain name. Compliant implementations MAY support some or all
of these possibilities. Furthermore, this specification applies only
to DHCPv6 client and server processes: it does not apply to other
processes that initiate DNS updates.
This document describes a new DHCPv6 option that a client can use to
convey all or part of its domain name to a DHCPv6 server. Site-
specific policy determines whether or not DHCPv6 servers use the
names that clients offer, and what DHCPv6 servers do in cases where
clients do not supply domain names.
4. The DHCPv6 Client FQDN Option
To update the IPv6-address-to-FQDN mapping, a DHCPv6 server needs to
know the FQDN of the client for the addresses for the client's IA_NA
bindings. To allow the client to convey its FQDN to the server, this
document defines a new DHCPv6 option called "Client FQDN". The
Client FQDN option also contains Flags that DHCPv6 clients and
servers use to negotiate who does which updates.
The code for this option is 39. Its minimum length is 1 octet.
The format of the DHCPv6 Client FQDN option is shown below:
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_FQDN | option-len |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| flags | |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ |
. .
. domain-name .
. .
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
option-code OPTION_CLIENT_FQDN (39)
option-len 1 + length of domain name
flags flag bits used between client and server to
negotiate who performs which updates
domain-name the partial or fully qualified domain name
(with length option-len - 1)
The Client FQDN option MUST only appear in a message's options field
and applies to all addresses for all IA_NA bindings in the
transaction.
4.1. The Flags Field
The format of the Flags field is:
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| MBZ |N|O|S|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
The "S" bit indicates whether the server SHOULD or SHOULD NOT perform
the AAAA RR (FQDN-to-address) DNS updates. A client sets the bit to
0 to indicate that the server SHOULD NOT perform the updates and 1 to
indicate that the server SHOULD perform the updates. The state of
the bit in the reply from the server indicates the action to be taken
by the server; if it is 1, the server has taken responsibility for
AAAA RR updates for the FQDN.
The "O" bit indicates whether the server has overridden the client's
preference for the "S" bit. A client MUST set this bit to 0. A
server MUST set this bit to 1 if the "S" bit in its reply to the
client does not match the "S" bit received from the client.
The "N" bit indicates whether the server SHOULD NOT perform any DNS
updates. A client sets this bit to 0 to request that the server
SHOULD perform updates (the PTR RR and possibly the AAAA RR based on
the "S" bit) or to 1 to request that the server SHOULD NOT perform
any DNS updates. A server sets the "N" bit to indicate whether the
server SHALL (0) or SHALL NOT (1) perform DNS updates. If the "N"
bit is 1, the "S" bit MUST be 0.
The remaining bits in the Flags field are reserved for future
assignment. DHCPv6 clients and servers that send the Client FQDN
option MUST clear the MBZ bits, and they MUST ignore these bits.
4.2. The Domain Name Field
The Domain Name part of the option carries all or part of the FQDN of
a DHCPv6 client. The data in the Domain Name field MUST be encoded
as described in Section 8 of [5]. In order to determine whether the
FQDN has changed between message exchanges, the client and server
MUST NOT alter the Domain Name field contents unless the FQDN has
actually changed.
A client MAY be configured with a fully qualified domain name or with
a partial name that is not fully qualified. If a client knows only
part of its name, it MAY send a name that is not fully qualified,
indicating that it knows part of the name but does not necessarily
know the zone in which the name is to be embedded.
To send a fully qualified domain name, the Domain Name field is set
to the DNS-encoded domain name including the terminating zero-length
label. To send a partial name, the Domain Name field is set to the
DNS-encoded domain name without the terminating zero-length label.
A client MAY also leave the Domain Name field empty if it desires the
server to provide a name.
Servers SHOULD send the complete fully qualified domain name in
Client FQDN options.
5. DHCPv6 Client Behavior
The following describes the behavior of a DHCPv6 client that
implements the Client FQDN option.
A client MUST only include the Client FQDN option in SOLICIT,
REQUEST, RENEW, or REBIND messages.
A client that sends the Client FQDN option MUST also include the
option in the Option Request option if it expects the server to
include the Client FQDN option in any responses.
5.1. Client Desires to Update AAAA RRs
If a client that owns/maintains its own FQDN wants to be responsible
for updating the FQDN-to-IPv6-address mapping for the FQDN and
address(es) used by the client, the client MUST include the Client
FQDN option in the SOLICIT with Rapid Commit, REQUEST, RENEW, and
REBIND message originated by the client. A client MAY choose to
include the Client FQDN option in its SOLICIT messages. The "S",
"O", and "N" bits in the Flags field in the option MUST be 0.
Once the client's DHCPv6 configuration is completed (the client
receives a REPLY message and successfully completes a final check on
the parameters passed in the message), the client MAY originate an
update for the AAAA RRs (associated with the client's FQDN) unless
the server has set the "S" bit to 1. If the "S" is 1, the DHCPv6
client SHOULD NOT initiate an update for the name in the server's
returned Client FQDN option Domain Name field. However, a DHCPv6
client that is explicitly configured with a FQDN MAY ignore the state
of the "S" bit if the server's returned name matches the client's
configured name.
5.2. Client Desires Server to Do DNS Updates
A client can choose to delegate the responsibility for updating the
FQDN-to-IPv6-address mapping for the FQDN and address(es) used by the
client to the server. In order to inform the server of this choice,
the client SHOULD include the Client FQDN option in its SOLICIT with
Rapid Commit, REQUEST, RENEW, and REBIND messages and MAY include the
Client FQDN option in its SOLICIT. The "S" bit in the Flags field in
the option MUST be 1, and the "O" and "N" bits MUST be 0.
5.3. Client Desires No Server DNS Updates
A client can choose to request that the server perform no DNS updates
on its behalf. In order to inform the server of this choice, the
client SHOULD include the Client FQDN option in its SOLICIT with
Rapid Commit, REQUEST, RENEW, and REBIND messages and MAY include the
Client FQDN option in its SOLICIT. The "N" bit in the Flags field in
the option MUST be 1, and the "S" and "O" bits MUST be 0.
Once the client's DHCPv6 configuration is completed (the client
receives a REPLY message and successfully completes a final check on
the parameters passed in the message), the client MAY originate its
DNS updates provided the server's "N" bit is 1. If the server's "N"
bit is 0, the server MAY perform the PTR RR updates; it MAY also
perform the AAAA RR updates if the "S" bit is 1.
5.4. Domain Name and DNS Update Issues
As there is a possibility that the DHCPv6 server is configured to
complete or replace a domain name that the client sends, the client
MAY find it useful to send the Client FQDN option in its SOLICIT
messages. If the DHCPv6 server returns different Domain Name data in
its ADVERTISE message, the client could use that data in performing
its own eventual AAAA RR update, or in forming the Client FQDN option
that it sends in its subsequent messages. There is no requirement
that the client send identical Client FQDN option data in its
SOLICIT, REQUEST, RENEW, or REBIND messages. In particular, if a
client has sent the Client FQDN option to its server, and the
configuration of the client changes so that its notion of its domain
name changes, it MAY send the new name data in a Client FQDN option
when it communicates with the server again. This MAY cause the
DHCPv6 server to update the name associated with the PTR records and,
if the server updated the AAAA record representing the client, to
delete that record and attempt an update for the client's current
domain name.
A client that delegates the responsibility for updating the FQDN-to-
IPv6-address mapping to a server will not receive any indication
(either positive or negative) from the server as to whether the
server was able to perform the update. The client MAY use a DNS
query to check whether the mapping is up to date. However, depending
on the load on the DHCPv6 and DNS servers and the DNS propagation
delays, the client can only infer success. If the information is not
found to be up to date in DNS, the authoritative servers might not
have completed the updates or zone transfers, or caching resolvers
may yet have updated their caches.
If a client releases an address prior to the expiration of the valid
lifetime and the client is responsible for updating its AAAA RR, the
client SHOULD delete the AAAA RR associated with the address before
sending a RELEASE message. Similarly, if a client is responsible for
updating its AAAA RRs, but is unable to renew the lifetimes for an
address, the client SHOULD attempt to delete the AAAA RR before the
lifetime on the address is no longer valid. A DHCPv6 client that has
not been able to delete an AAAA RR that it added SHOULD attempt to
notify its administrator, perhaps by emitting a log message.
A client SHOULD NOT perform DNS updates to AAAA RRs for its non-
Global Unicast addresses [7] or temporary addresses [6].
6. DHCPv6 Server Behavior
The following describes the behavior of a DHCPv6 server that
implements the Client FQDN option when the client's message includes
the Client FQDN option.
Servers MUST only include a Client FQDN option in ADVERTISE and REPLY
messages if the client included a Client FQDN option and the Client
FQDN option is requested by the Option Request option in the client's
message to which the server is responding.
The server examines its configuration and the Flag bits in the
client's Client FQDN option to determine how to respond:
o The server sets to 0 the "S", "O", and "N" bits in its copy of the
option it will return to the client.
o If the client's "N" bit is 1 and the server's configuration allows
it to honor the client's request for no server-initiated DNS
updates, the server sets the "N" bit to 1.
o Otherwise, if the client's "S" bit is 1 and the server's
configuration allows it to honor the client's request for the
server to initiate AAAA RR DNS updates, the server sets the "S" to
1. If the server's "S" bit does not match the client's "S" bit,
the server sets the "O" bit to 1.
The server MAY be configured to use the name supplied in the client's
Client FQDN option, or it MAY be configured to modify the supplied
name or to substitute a different name. The server SHOULD send its
notion of the complete FQDN for the client in the Domain Name field.
The server MAY simply copy the Domain Name field from the Client FQDN
option that the client sent to the server.
6.1. When to Perform DNS Updates
The server SHOULD NOT perform any DNS updates if the "N" bit is 1 in
the Flags field of the Client FQDN option in the REPLY messages (to
be) sent to the client. However, the server SHOULD delete any RRs
that it previously added via DNS updates for the client.
The server MAY perform the PTR RR DNS update (unless the "N" bit is
1).
The server MAY perform the AAAA RR DNS update if the "S" bit is 1 in
the Flags field of the Client FQDN option in the REPLY message (to
be) sent to the client.
The server MAY perform these updates even if the client's message did
not carry the Client FQDN option. The server MUST NOT initiate DNS
updates when responding with an ADVERTISE message to the client.
The server MAY complete its DNS updates (PTR RR or PTR and AAAA RR)
before or after sending the REPLY message to the client.
If the server's AAAA RR DNS update does not complete until after the
server has replied to the DHCPv6 client, the server's interaction
with the DNS server MAY cause the DHCPv6 server to change the domain
name that it associates with the client. This can occur, for
example, if the server detects and resolves a domain-name conflict
[8]. In such cases, the domain name that the server returns to the
DHCPv6 client would change between two DHCPv6 exchanges.
If the server previously performed DNS updates for the client and the
client's information has not changed, the server MAY skip performing
additional DNS updates.
When a server receives a RELEASE or DECLINE for an address, detects
that the valid lifetime on an address that the server bound to a
client has expired, or terminates a binding on an address prior to
the binding's expiration time (for instance, by sending a REPLY with
a zero valid lifetime for an address), the server SHOULD delete any
PTR RR that it associated with the address via DNS update. In
addition, if the server took responsibility for AAAA RRs, the server
SHOULD also delete the AAAA RR.
7. DNS RR TTLs
RRs associated with DHCP clients may be more volatile than statically
configured RRs. DHCP clients and servers that perform dynamic
updates should attempt to specify resource record TTLs that reflect
this volatility, in order to minimize the possibility that answers to
DNS queries will return records that refer to DHCP IP address
assignments that have expired or been released.
The coupling among primary, secondary, and caching DNS servers is
'loose'; that is a fundamental part of the design of the DNS. This
looseness makes it impossible to prevent all possible situations in
which a resolver may return a record reflecting a DHCP-assigned IP
address that has expired or been released. In deployment, this
rarely, if ever, represents a significant problem. Most DHCP-managed
clients are infrequently looked up by name in the DNS, and the
deployment of IXFR [13] and NOTIFY [14] can reduce the latency
between updates and their visibility at secondary servers.
We suggest these basic guidelines for implementers. In general, the
TTLs for RRs added as a result of DHCP IP address assignment activity
SHOULD be less than the initial lifetime. The RR TTL on a DNS record
added SHOULD NOT exceed 1/3 of the lifetime, but SHOULD NOT be less
than 10 minutes. We recognize that individual administrators will
have varying requirements: DHCP servers and clients SHOULD allow
administrators to configure TTLs and upper and lower bounds on the
TTL values, either as an absolute time interval or as a percentage of
the lease lifetime.
While clients and servers MAY update the TTL of the records as the
lifetime is about to expire, there is no requirement that they do so
as this puts additional load on the DNS system with likely little
benefit.
8. DNS Update Conflicts
This document does not resolve how a DHCPv6 client or server prevent
name conflicts. This document addresses only how a DHCPv6 client and
server negotiate the fully qualified domain name and who will perform
the DNS updates.
Implementers of this work will need to consider how name conflicts
will be prevented. If a DNS updater needs a security token in order
to successfully perform DNS updates on a specific name, name
conflicts can only occur if multiple updaters are given a security
token for that name. Or, if the fully qualified domains are based on
the specific address bound to a client, conflicts will not occur.
Or, a name conflict resolution technique as described in "Resolving
Name Conflicts" [8]) SHOULD be used.
9. IANA Considerations
The IANA has assigned DHCPv6 option code 39 for the Client FQDN
option.
10. Security Considerations
Unauthenticated updates to the DNS can lead to tremendous confusion,
through malicious attack or through inadvertent misconfiguration.
Administrators need to be wary of permitting unsecured DNS updates to
zones that are exposed to the global Internet. Both DHCPv6 clients
and servers SHOULD use some form of update request origin
authentication procedure (e.g., Secure DNS Dynamic Update [11]) when
performing DNS updates.
Whether a DHCPv6 client is responsible for updating an FQDN-to-IPv6-
address mapping or whether this is the responsibility of the DHCPv6
server is a site-local matter. The choice between the two
alternatives is likely based on the security model that is used with
the DNS update protocol (e.g., only a client may have sufficient
credentials to perform updates to the FQDN-to-IPv6-address mapping
for its FQDN).
Whether a DHCPv6 server is always responsible for updating the FQDN-
to-IPv6-address mapping (in addition to updating the IPv6-to-FQDN
mapping), regardless of the wishes of an individual DHCPv6 client, is
also a site-local matter. The choice between the two alternatives is
likely based on the security model that is being used with DNS
updates. In cases where a DHCPv6 server is performing DNS updates on
behalf of a client, the DHCPv6 server SHOULD be sure of the DNS name
to use for the client, and of the identity of the client.
Depending on the presence of or type of authentication used with the
Authentication option, a DHCPv6 server may not have much confidence
in the identities of its clients. There are many ways for a DHCPv6
server to develop a DNS name to use for a client, but only in certain
circumstances will the DHCPv6 server know for certain the identity of
the client.
It is critical to implement proper conflict resolution, and the
security considerations of conflict resolution apply [8].
11. Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Mark Stapp and Yakov Rekhter, as this document is
based on the DHCPv4 Client FQDN option [9], and to Ralph Droms, Ted
Lemon, Josh Littlefield, Kim Kinnear, Pekka Savola, and Mark Stapp
for their review and comments.
12. References
12.1. Normative References
[1] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[2] Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - concepts and facilities",
STD 13, RFC 1034, November 1987.
[3] Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - implementation and
specification", STD 13, RFC 1035, November 1987.
[4] Vixie, P., Thomson, S., Rekhter, Y., and J. Bound, "Dynamic
Updates in the Domain Name System (DNS UPDATE)", RFC 2136,
April 1997.
[5] Droms, R., Bound, J., Volz, B., Lemon, T., Perkins, C., and M.
Carney, "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6)",
RFC 3315, July 2003.
[6] Narten, T. and R. Draves, "Privacy Extensions for Stateless
Address Autoconfiguration in IPv6", RFC 3041, January 2001.
[7] Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "IP Version 6 Addressing
Architecture", RFC 4291, February 2006.
[8] Stapp, M. and B. Volz, "Resolution of Fully Qualified Domain
Name (FQDN) Conflicts among Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
(DHCP) Clients", RFC 4703, October 2006.
12.2. Informative References
[9] Stapp, M., Volz, B., and Y. Rekhter, "The Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Client Fully Qualified Domain
Name (FQDN) Option", RFC 4702, October 2006.
[10] Marine, A., Reynolds, J., and G. Malkin, "FYI on Questions and
Answers - Answers to Commonly asked "New Internet User"
Questions", FYI 4, RFC 1594, March 1994.
[11] Wellington, B., "Secure Domain Name System (DNS) Dynamic
Update", RFC 3007, November 2000.
[12] Thomson, S., Huitema, C., Ksinant, V., and M. Souissi, "DNS
Extensions to Support IP Version 6", RFC 3596, October 2003.
[13] Ohta, M., "Incremental Zone Transfer in DNS", RFC 1995,
August 1996.
[14] Vixie, P., "A Mechanism for Prompt Notification of Zone Changes
(DNS NOTIFY)", RFC 1996, August 1996.
Author's Address
Bernard Volz
Cisco Systems, Inc.
1414 Massachusetts Ave.
Boxborough, MA 01719
USA
Phone: +1 978 936 0382
EMail: volz@cisco.com
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ISO Plain Language
On this page
§1What the Client FQDN Option Is For
DNS maintains, among other things, the information about the mapping between hosts' fully qualified domain names and the IPv6 addresses assigned to the hosts. That information is held in two types of resource record: AAAA and PTR. The DNS update specification in RFC 2136 describes a mechanism that enables DNS information to be updated over a network.
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 provides a mechanism by which a host, a DHCPv6 client, can acquire configuration information along with its stateful IPv6 addresses. This document specifies a new DHCPv6 option, the Client FQDN option, which DHCPv6 clients and servers use to exchange information about the client's fully qualified domain name and about who has the responsibility for updating the DNS with the associated AAAA and PTR records.
DNS holds a record that maps a host's name to its address and another that maps the address back. DHCPv6 hands out the address, so something has to keep those records in step. This RFC adds an option through which the client and the server say who will do it.
§3Two Models of Operation
When a DHCPv6 client acquires an address, the site's administrator may want the AAAA record for the client's fully qualified domain name and the PTR record for the acquired address to be updated. Acquiring an address involves two entities, a client and a server, and in principle each could perform none, one or both of the DNS update transactions. In practice, the option is primarily intended to work in two cases: the client updates the AAAA record and the server updates the PTR record, or the server updates both. The only difference between the two cases is whether the FQDN-to-address mapping is updated by the client or by the server. The address-to-FQDN mapping is updated by the server in both cases.
These two cases matter because of authority over the DNS domain names. A client may be given authority over mapping its own AAAA records, or that authority may be restricted to a server to stop the client listing arbitrary addresses or associating its addresses with arbitrary domain names. In all cases, the only reasonable place for the authority over the PTR records associated with the address is in the server that allocates the address.
A third case is supported, in which the client asks the server to perform no updates, but it is presumed to be rare because of the authority issues. Whether a site permits all, some or no DHCPv6 servers and clients to perform DNS updates into the zones it controls is entirely a matter of local administrative policy. The range of policies is very broad, from sites where only the servers hold credentials the DNS servers accept, to sites where each individual client has been configured with credentials that let it modify its own domain name. The specification applies only to DHCPv6 client and server processes; it does not apply to other processes that initiate DNS updates.
There are two sensible arrangements. Either the client keeps its own name record up to date and the server keeps the reverse record, or the server does both. The split matters for authority: a client that can edit its own name record could also claim other names, so some sites keep all the editing at the server.
- SOLICIT WITH CLIENT FQDN OPTIONCarries the client's domain name and the flag bits.
- ADVERTISE OR REPLY WITH CLIENT FQDN OPTIONThe flags in the reply say who will do the updates.
- DNS UPDATEAdds or removes the AAAA and PTR records.
§4The Option and Its Flags
To update the address-to-FQDN mapping, a DHCPv6 server needs to know the FQDN of the client for the addresses in the client's IA_NA bindings. To let the client convey its FQDN, this document defines a new DHCPv6 option called Client FQDN. The code for this option is 39 and its minimum length is 1 octet. The option holds the option code, the option length, a flags field and the domain name, whose length is the option length minus one. The Client FQDN option must only appear in a message's options field, and it applies to all addresses for all IA_NA bindings in the transaction.
The flags field is one octet holding four flag bits and the rest reserved. The S bit indicates whether the server should or should not perform the AAAA record, the FQDN-to-address, DNS updates. A client sets the bit to 0 to say the server should not perform the updates and to 1 to say it should. The state of the bit in the server's reply indicates the action taken by the server; if it is 1, the server has taken responsibility for AAAA record updates for the FQDN.
The O bit indicates whether the server has overridden the client's preference for the S bit. A client must set this bit to 0, and a server must set it to 1 if the S bit in its reply does not match the S bit it received.
The N bit indicates whether the server should not perform any DNS updates. A client sets it to 0 to request that the server should perform updates, the PTR record and possibly the AAAA record based on the S bit, or to 1 to request that the server should not perform any DNS updates. A server sets the N bit to say whether the server shall, at 0, or shall not, at 1, perform DNS updates. If the N bit is 1, the S bit must be 0.
The remaining bits are reserved for future assignment. Clients and servers that send the option must clear the reserved bits and must ignore them when reading.
The option is number 39 and holds the client's name plus three flags. The S flag asks the server to look after the name record. The N flag asks the server to do no DNS work at all. The O flag is the server saying that it has ignored the client's preference. Any spare bits are set to zero and ignored.
option-code OPTION_CLIENT_FQDN (39)
option-len 1 + length of domain name
flags flag bits used between client and server to
negotiate who performs which updates
domain-name the partial or fully qualified domain name
(with length option-len - 1)- SSet by the client to 1 to ask the server to do the AAAA record update, the one that maps the name to the address.
- OSet by the server to 1 when the S bit in its reply does not match the S bit the client sent.
- NSet to 1 to ask for no server DNS updates at all. When it is 1, the S bit must be 0.
§4.2The Domain Name Field
The domain name part of the option carries all or part of the fully qualified domain name of a DHCPv6 client. The data must be encoded as described in section 8 of RFC 3315. In order to determine whether the FQDN has changed between message exchanges, the client and server must not alter the domain name field contents unless the FQDN has actually changed.
A client may be configured with a fully qualified domain name, or with a partial name that is not fully qualified. If a client knows only part of its name, it may send a name that is not fully qualified, indicating that it knows part of the name but does not necessarily know the zone in which the name is to be embedded. To send a fully qualified domain name, the domain name field is set to the DNS-encoded name including the terminating zero-length label. To send a partial name, it is set to the DNS-encoded name without the terminating zero-length label. A client may also leave the domain name field empty if it wants the server to provide a name. Servers should send the complete fully qualified domain name in Client FQDN options.
The name travels in the DNS wire format. A client that knows only part of its name can send that part, leaving off the final empty label, and a client with no name at all can send an empty field and let the server choose one.
§5What the Client Does
A client must only include the Client FQDN option in SOLICIT, REQUEST, RENEW or REBIND messages. A client that sends the option must also include the option in the Option Request option if it expects the server to include the Client FQDN option in any responses.
A client that owns and maintains its own fully qualified domain name, and wants to be responsible for updating the FQDN-to-address mapping, must include the option in its SOLICIT with Rapid Commit, REQUEST, RENEW and REBIND messages, and may include it in its other SOLICIT messages. The S, O and N bits must all be 0. Once the client's configuration is complete, meaning it has received a REPLY and successfully completed a final check on the parameters in it, the client may start an update for its AAAA records, unless the server set the S bit to 1. If the S bit is 1, the client should not update the name in the server's returned domain name field. A client explicitly configured with a fully qualified domain name may ignore the state of the S bit if the server's returned name matches the client's configured name.
A client that wants the server to do the updates sets the S bit to 1 and the O and N bits to 0. A client that wants no server-side DNS updates sets the N bit to 1 and the S and O bits to 0. In that last case, once its configuration is complete the client may do its own DNS updates as long as the server's N bit is 1. If the server's N bit is 0, the server may perform the PTR record updates, and may also perform the AAAA record updates if the S bit is 1.
A client that delegates the FQDN-to-address mapping to a server gets no indication, positive or negative, of whether the server managed the update. The client may use a DNS query to check whether the mapping is up to date, but because of load on the servers and DNS propagation delays it can only infer success. If a client releases an address before the valid lifetime expires and the client is responsible for updating its AAAA record, it should delete that record before sending the RELEASE message. A client that has not been able to delete an AAAA record it added should try to notify its administrator. A client should not perform DNS updates to AAAA records for its non-global unicast addresses or its temporary addresses.
The client says in the option whether it will do the name update itself or wants the server to do it. After the lease is confirmed, the client may then update the DNS, unless the server took that job on. The server never reports back whether the update worked, so a client that wants to check has to query DNS and can only guess from the answer.
§6What the Server Does
Servers must only include a Client FQDN option in ADVERTISE and REPLY messages if the client included the option and the option is requested in the Option Request option of the client's message.
The server examines its configuration and the flag bits in the client's option to decide how to respond. It sets the S, O and N bits to 0 in the copy of the option it returns. If the client's N bit is 1 and the server's configuration allows it to honour the request for no server-initiated DNS updates, the server sets the N bit to 1. Otherwise, if the client's S bit is 1 and the server's configuration allows it to honour the request for the server to do the AAAA updates, the server sets the S bit to 1, and if that does not match the client's S bit it also sets the O bit to 1.
The server may be configured to use the name supplied in the client's option, or to modify the supplied name or substitute a different one. It should send its notion of the complete fully qualified domain name for the client in the domain name field, and may simply copy the field from the client's option.
The server should not perform any DNS updates if the N bit is 1 in the option of the REPLY it is about to send, but it should delete any records it previously added for the client. It may perform the PTR record update unless the N bit is 1, and it may perform the AAAA record update if the S bit is 1 in the option of the REPLY it is about to send. It may perform these updates even if the client's message did not carry the option, and it must not initiate DNS updates when responding with an ADVERTISE message. It may complete its updates before or after sending the REPLY. If the AAAA update finishes only after the reply, the server's later interaction with the DNS server may cause it to change the domain name it associates with the client, for example if it detects and resolves a domain-name conflict, in which case the name it returns to the client would change between two exchanges. If the server previously performed updates for the client and the client's information has not changed, it may skip further updates.
When a server receives a RELEASE or DECLINE for an address, detects that the valid lifetime has expired, or ends a binding early by sending a REPLY with a zero valid lifetime, it should delete any PTR record it associated with the address. If the server took responsibility for AAAA records, it should delete those as well.
The server returns the option only if the client asked for it, and sets the flags to match what its own policy allows. It can keep the client's name, change it or replace it, and should send back the full name it settled on. When the lease ends, the server removes the DNS records it added.
§7Choosing DNS Record Lifetimes
Records associated with DHCP clients may be more volatile than statically configured records. DHCP clients and servers that perform dynamic updates should try to specify resource record lifetimes that reflect this volatility, in order to minimise the possibility that answers to DNS queries return records that refer to address assignments that have expired or been released.
The coupling among primary, secondary and caching DNS servers is loose, and it is impossible to prevent all situations in which a resolver may return a record reflecting an expired or released address. In deployment this rarely represents a significant problem. Most DHCP-managed clients are infrequently looked up by name in the DNS, and the deployment of incremental zone transfer and NOTIFY can reduce the latency between updates and their visibility at secondary servers.
The RFC suggests basic guidelines for implementers. In general, the lifetimes for records added as a result of address assignment should be less than the initial lifetime. The record lifetime on a DNS record added should not exceed one third of the lifetime, but should not be less than 10 minutes. Individual administrators will have varying requirements, so DHCP servers and clients should allow administrators to configure the lifetime and its upper and lower bounds, either as an absolute time interval or as a percentage of the lease lifetime. While clients and servers may update the lifetime of the records as the lease is about to expire, there is no requirement that they do so, as this puts additional load on the DNS system with likely little benefit.
DNS records for DHCP clients go stale quickly, so they should carry short lifetimes. The RFC suggests a lifetime of no more than a third of the lease and no less than ten minutes, and asks implementations to let the administrator set those bounds.
§10Security Considerations and Name Conflicts
Unauthenticated updates to the DNS can lead to tremendous confusion, through malicious attack or through inadvertent misconfiguration. Administrators need to be wary of permitting unsecured DNS updates to zones that are exposed to the global Internet. Both DHCPv6 clients and servers should use some form of update request origin authentication, such as secure DNS dynamic update, when performing DNS updates.
Whether a client is responsible for updating its name mapping or whether that is the responsibility of the server is a site-local matter, likely based on the security model used with the DNS update protocol, for example where only the client holds sufficient credentials. Whether the server is always responsible for the mapping, regardless of the wishes of an individual client, is also a site-local matter. In cases where a server is performing DNS updates on behalf of a client, it should be sure of the DNS name to use for the client and of the identity of the client. Depending on the presence of or type of authentication used with the DHCPv6 Authentication option, a server may not have much confidence in the identities of its clients.
This document does not resolve how a client or server prevents name conflicts; it addresses only how they negotiate the fully qualified domain name and who performs the DNS updates. Implementers will need to consider how name conflicts will be prevented. If a DNS updater needs a security token to perform updates on a specific name, conflicts can only occur if multiple updaters are given a token for that name. Or, if the fully qualified domains are based on the specific address bound to a client, conflicts will not occur. Or, a name conflict resolution technique should be used. It is critical to implement proper conflict resolution, and the security considerations of conflict resolution apply.
Anyone allowed to update the DNS without authenticating can cause a great deal of confusion, so both sides should authenticate their updates. This RFC does not say what happens when two machines claim the same name; that is left to a separate document on resolving name conflicts.