DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot
RFC 5970

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/rfc5970.
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 [RFC2616] or TFTP [RFC1350]), 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 [RFC2119].
 Terminology specific to IPv6 and DHCPv6 are used in the same way as
 is defined in the "Terminology" sections of [RFC3315].
3. Options
 Option formats comply with DHCPv6 options per [RFC3315] (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) .
 | |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
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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 [RFC3986]. 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 [RFC3986]. 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 ([RFC3629]) 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) |
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
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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 [RFC4578].
 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 [RFC4578] for details.
 architecture-types A list of one or more architecture types, as
 specified in Section 2.1 of [RFC4578]. Each
 architecture type identifier in this list is a
 16-bit value that describes the pre-boot runtime
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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 [RFC4578].
 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 [RFC4578].
 Major As specified in Section 2.2 of [RFC4578].
 Minor As specified in Section 2.2 of [RFC4578].
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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) [RFC2616] for downloading. Please
 note that for IPv6, this supersedes [RFC906], which recommended using
 TFTP for downloading (see [RFC3617] for the 'tftp' URL definition).
 When using the Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) for
 booting, the 'iscsi' URI is formed as defined in [RFC4173]. 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 [RFC3315].
 +-------------------------+-------+--------------+
 | 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 [RFC4578], Section 2.1.
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RFC 5970 DHCPv6 Options for Network Boot September 2010
 The assignment policy for values is through Expert Review (see
 [RFC5226]), 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 [RFC3315]).
 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 [RFC3986]).
 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
 [RFC2818] or Transport Layer Security (TLS) within HTTP [RFC2817] 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.
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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>.
 [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
 Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
 [RFC3315] Droms, R., Bound, J., Volz, B., Lemon, T., Perkins, C.,
 and M. Carney, "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for
 IPv6 (DHCPv6)", RFC 3315, July 2003.
 [RFC3629] Yergeau, F., "UTF-8, a transformation format of ISO
 10646", STD 63, RFC 3629, November 2003.
 [RFC3986] Berners-Lee, T., Fielding, R., and L. Masinter, "Uniform
 Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax", STD 66,
 RFC 3986, January 2005.
 [RFC4173] Sarkar, P., Missimer, D., and C. Sapuntzakis,
 "Bootstrapping Clients using the Internet Small Computer
 System Interface (iSCSI) Protocol", RFC 4173,
 September 2005.
 [RFC4578] Johnston, M. and S. Venaas, "Dynamic Host Configuration
 Protocol (DHCP) Options for the Intel Preboot eXecution
 Environment (PXE)", RFC 4578, November 2006.
 [RFC5226] 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
 [RFC906] Finlayson, R., "Bootstrap Loading using TFTP", RFC 906,
 June 1984.
 [RFC1350] 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
 [RFC2616] 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.
 [RFC2817] Khare, R. and S. Lawrence, "Upgrading to TLS Within
 HTTP/1.1", RFC 2817, May 2000.
 [RFC2818] Rescorla, E., "HTTP Over TLS", RFC 2818, May 2000.
 [RFC3617] 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]