$Id$ HSLS Protocol Capabilities & Extensibility ---- -------- ------------ - ------------- The HSLS protocol is agnostic about the network layer. That is, it can route IPv4, IPv6, IEEE 802.3/802.11 networks. The protocol can disseminate routes for multiple network types, simultaneously---for example, both IPv4 and IPv6 routes. Each HSLS router is uniquely identified by a 32-bit identifier apart from any network numbers assigned. The HSLS protocol is capable of carrying both IPv4 and IPv6 host- and subnet-routes, simultaneously. The HSLS protocol uses IP multicast, link-layer multicast, or both, to limit the recipients of broadcast HSLS messages to interested routers. HSLS must protect against link-state messages being endlessly flooded by, for example, counting and limiting the number of hops per message. The HSLS protocol will support point-to-multipoint (ptmp), point-to-point (ptp), and broadcast (bcast) links. A ptp link connects only two routers. A ptmp link connects routers on the same subnet to one another. A router on a ptmp subnet may or may not be connected to every other router. A broadcast link connects a router to a broadcast subnet. Connectivity on the broadcast medium is expected to be transitive. That is, bcast connections from both router A to B and B to C imply a connection from router A to C. The two routers on a ptp link need not belong to the same subnet: HSLS ptp links are "unnumbered." Both routers are responsible for sending LSAs indicating connectivity in one direction with the ptp interface's number (ifIndex in the appropriate MIB) and the remote router's address. On a ptmp link, all routers belong to the same subnet. For every different pair of neighbors, All routers on the same bcast link belong to the same subnet. Each router may assign a cost to its bcast link independently of every other router on the same link. That is, routers link costs for the same bcast network need not agree. A router may not individually assign different costs to its neighbors on a bcast link. The protocol will contain provisions for efficient advertisement of bcast links, so that O(n^2) different LSAs are not necessary to advertise full mesh bcast connectivity for the n routers on the link. [OSPF's DR, BDR, and Network-LSAs may be appropriate.] The HSLS protocol must be capable of advertising links with a "cost vector" which describes link costs in one or more dimensions. such as ETX, neighbors on the link, delay, and capacity. A link cost ranges from 1 to 2^31 - 1 in every dimension. The HSLS protocol must label each cost-vector element with the dimension it describes. The protocol must define how cost vectors are added and compared, with special attention to both same-length cost vectors whose elements come in a different order--- v1 = [etx, delay, capacity] v2 = [delay, etx, capacity] ---and different-length cost vectors--- v1 = [etx, delay, capacity] v2 = [etx, capacity]. The HSLS protocol must provide for authentication and confidentiality of routing messages, without requiring greater memory & CPU resources for the purpose than a typical handheld computer can provide. C-U Wireless is concerned that routers holding the same secret key can impersonate each other; the HSLS protocol must assist routers in detecting impersonation. The protocol must provide for keys to be renewed and revoked. $Id$