Internet Draft                                                Mark Bakke
<draft-bakke-dhc-snmp-trap-00.txt>                                 Cisco
Standards Track
Expires March 2003

September 2002


                   DHCP Option for SNMP Notifications



Status of this Memo

   This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
   all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that
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   Drafts.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol [RFC1531] provides a method
   for a host to retrieve common configuration parameters at boot time.
   These include the host's IP address, default gateway, subnet mask,
   DNS server, and other useful things.

   When a host is booted from the network, it does not have access to
   these configuration parameters from its local or network disk right
   away; it relies instead on DHCP to provide them.  One such parameter
   that is not yet provided is a list of IP hosts to which to send SNMP



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   notifications [RFC1448] during the boot process, particularly if the
   boot fails.  As the host is already gleaning similar information from
   DHCP, a new option to specify these SNMP "trap" hosts appears to be
   the simplest method to gain this information.  Hosts not booting from
   the network benefit as well, since SNMP notification hosts can now be
   configured centrally through DHCP.

   This document describes a proposed DHCP option that specifies a list
   of SNMP notification hosts to which SNMP notifications should be
   sent.

Acknowledgements

   This draft was produced as a result of discussions with Keith
   McCloghrie.


1.  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 [RFC2119].


2.  DHCP Option

   The snmp-trap-host option specifies a list of IP addresses to which
   SNMP notifications should be sent.  SNMP notification hosts SHOULD be
   listed in order of preference; an implementation SHOULD send each
   notification to as many of the hosts listed as possible.  Its format
   is identical to the router option [RFC2132].  The code for this
   option is TBD.  The minimum length is 4 octets, and the length MUST
   be a multiple of 4.

       Code   Len         Address 1               Address 2
      +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+--
      | TBD |  n  |  a1 |  a2 |  a3 |  a4 |  a1 |  a2 |  ...
      +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+--


3.  Security Considerations

   DHCP currently provides no authentication or security mechanisms.
   Potential exposures to attack are discussed in section 7 of the DHCP
   protocol specification [RFC 2131].






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4.  IANA Considerations

   IANA is requested to allocate a DHCP option number for this option.


5.  Summary

   This document describes a DHCP option for configuring a list of SNMP
   notification hosts.


6.  Normative References


[RFC2026]   S. Bradner,  "The Internet Standards Process", RFC 2026,
            October 1996.

[RFC2119]   S. Bradner,  "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
            Requirement Levels", RFC 2119, March 1997.

[RFC2131]   R. Droms,  "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol", RFC 2131,
            March 1997.

[RFC1448]   J. Case, K. McCloghrie, M. Rose, S. Waldbusser, "Protocol
            Operations for SNMPv2", RFC 1448, April 1993.


7.  Informative References


[RFC2132]   S. Alexander, R. Droms, "DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor
            Extensions", RFC 2132, March 1997.

[RFC2939]   R. Droms,  "Procedures and IANA Guidelines for Definition of
            New DHCP Options and Message Types", RFC 2939, September
            2000.

Author Contact Information

       Mark Bakke
       Cisco Systems, Inc.
       6450 Wedgwood Road
       Maple Grove, MN
       USA 55311

       Voice:  +1 763-398-1000
       E-Mail: mbakke@cisco.com




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8.  Full Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001).  All Rights Reserved.

   This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
   others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
   or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
   and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
   kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
   included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
   document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
   the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
   Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
   developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
   copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
   followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
   English.

   The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
   revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

   This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
   TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
   BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
   HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
   MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Acknowledgement

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
   Internet Society.



















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