Mobility Support for Nimrod : Challenges and Solution Approaches (RFC2103)

Network Working Group R. Ramanathan Request for Comments: 2103 BBN Systems and Technologies Category: Informational February 1997

Mobility Support for Nimrod : Challenges and Solution Approaches

Status of this Memo

This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

We discuss the issue of mobility in Nimrod. While a mobility solution is not part of the Nimrod architecture, Nimrod does require that the solution have certain characteristics. We identify the requirements that Nimrod has of any solution for mobility support. We also classify and compare existing approaches for supporting mobility within an internetwork and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, as an example, we outline the mechanisms to support mobility in Nimrod using the scheme currently being developed within the IETF - namely, the Mobile-IP protocol.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction................................................... 1 2 Mobility : A Modular Perspective.............................. 2 3 Effects of Mobility............................................ 4 4 Approaches..................................................... 6 5 Solution using IETF Mobile-IP.................................. 10 5.1 Overview .................................................. 10 5.2 Protocol Details........................................... 11 6 Security Considerations........................................ 15 7 Summary........................................................ 16 8 Acknowledgements............................................... 16 9 Author’s Address............................................... 17

1 Introduction

The nature of emerging applications makes the support for mobility essential for any future routing architecture. It is the intent of Nimrod to allow physical devices as well as networks to be mobile.

Nimrod, as a routing and addressing architecture, does not directly concern itself with mobility. That is, Nimrod does not propose a solution for the mobility problem. There are two chief reasons for

Ramanathan Informational [Page 1]

RFC 2103 Nimrod Mobility Support February 1997

this. First, mobility is a non-trivial problem whose implications and requirements are still not well understood and will perhaps be understood only when a mobile internetwork is deployed on a large scale. Second, a number of groups (for instance the Mobile-IP working group of the IETF) are studying the problem by itself and it is not our intention to duplicate those efforts.

This attitude towards mobility is consistent with Nimrod’s general philosophy of flexibility, adaptability and incremental change.

While a mobility solution is not part of the "core" Nimrod architecture, Nimrod does require that the solution have certain characteristics. It is the purpose of this document to discuss some of these requirements and evaluate approaches towards meeting them....