Subject: MDHCP changes

From: Steve Hanna <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 09:52:42 -0400 (EDT)

At IETF 42, several concerns were raised regarding MDHCP. First, it was stated 
that sharing DHCP's option number space is a bad idea. Their option space is 
already overcrowded. Second, there were objections to the large number of bytes 
in each MDHCP packet devoted to reserved fields purely to allow code to be 
shared with DHCP servers and clients.

I have spoken to the other authors of the MDHCP draft and we have agreed to 
split the MDHCP option space off from the DHCP option space, making it 
completely separate.

We have also agreed to remove the chaddr, sname, and file fields from the packet 
format. This will remove 208 of the 228 bytes currently devoted to reserved 
fields within the MDHCP packet format. Removing more fields would make it 
difficult to share any code between MDHCP and DHCP implementations.

We have also agreed to solutions for almost all the open issues listed in the 
current MDHCP draft. I don't believe that any of these were controversial, so I 
will not describe them here.

Before proceeding to write up a new MDHCP draft including these changes, I would 
like to check the current consensus of the malloc working group. The question is 
this:

With the changes described above, are there objections to moving MDHCP forward?

Thanks,

Steve Hanna

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From: Vern Paxson <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 12:09:58 PDT

> Removing more fields would make it 

So how much opportunity for common code is left?  Is it enough to
merit any semblence of compatibility?

		Vern

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From: Steve Hanna <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 16:26:58 -0400 (EDT)

I'm not a DHCP implementer (at least not any more), so I can't speak to this 
from personal experience. Microsoft seems to think that the remaining 
compatibility is useful. But this may be due to the fact that they have already 
implemented an earlier version of MDHCP. It would be interesting to hear from 
other DHCP implementers.

-Steve

> To: Steve Hanna <[email-masked]>
> Cc: [email-masked]
> Subject: Re: MDHCP changes
> Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 12:09:58 PDT
> From: Vern Paxson <[email-masked]>
>

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From: Munil Shah <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 17:40:18 -0700

There is still a plenty of opportunity for common code. The administration,
ipaddress management are two big things.
-Munil

-----Original Message-----
From: Vern Paxson [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 1998 12:10 PM
To: Steve Hanna
Cc: [email-masked]
Subject: Re: MDHCP changes

		Vern