2.3.4 IP Over Fibre Channel (ipfc)

NOTE: This charter is a snapshot of the 46th IETF Meeting in Washington, DC. It may now be out-of-date. Last Modified: 18-Oct-99

Chair(s):

Murali Rajagopal <murali@gadzoox.com>

Internet Area Director(s):

Thomas Narten <narten@raleigh.ibm.com>
Erik Nordmark <nordmark@eng.sun.com>

Internet Area Advisor:

Erik Nordmark <nordmark@eng.sun.com>

Mailing Lists:

General Discussion:ipfc@standards.gadzoox.com
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Archive: standards.gadzoox.com/pub/archives/ipfc/ipfc

Description of Working Group:

The importance of running IP and ARP over Fibre Channels has reached a critical point wherein a standardized approach seems to be the only solution. Historically over the past few years, there have been a multitude of attempts and approaches to implementing IP and ARP over Fibre Channel (FC). This has resulted in islands of implementations with no interoperability. Several vendors from the Fibre Channel Association (FCA) have proposed taking this problem to the IETF with the intent of generating one "standard" specification.

This working group will be responsible for standardizing a specification that will allow IP and ARP to ride over various Fibre Channel topologies, which may include point-to-point, Loop, and Fabric.

The specification will include procedures and protocols for the broadcast of ARP packets between Fibre Channel devices and an encapsulation mechanism to carry IP payloads.

Objectives:

1. Specify a Standards Track procedure for broadcasting ARP packets and resolving IP to FC MAC address and FC MAC to FC port address

2. Specify a Standards Track encapsulation for carrying IP over FC.

Goals and Milestones:

May 99

  

Submit to IESG the Fabric Element MIB for consideration as a Proposed Standard

Aug 99

  

Start email discussion on IP and ARP Over Fibre Channel as a Draft Standard

Nov 99

  

Submit final version of Fibre Channel Management MIB as an Internet-Draft

Dec 99

  

WG Last Call on IP Over Fibre Channel for Draft Standard

Mar 00

  

Submit Fabric Management MIB to IESG for consideration as a Proposed Standard

Mar 00

  

Submit IP and ARP Over Fibre Channel to IESG for consideration as a Draft Standard

Internet-Drafts:

Request For Comments:

RFC

Status

Title

 

RFC2625

PS

IP and ARP over Fibre Channel

Current Meeting Report

Minutes taken by Murali Rajagopal (IPFC WG Chair)

Agenda:

1. Draft Status:
- Title: A Framework for Fibre Channel MIBs - http URL:draft-ietf-ipfc-mib-framework-01.txt

- Lee Hu, Vixel Corp.Lee Hu indicated that he should be done with the draft by the next meet and will be submitted as a Informational RFC. Lee gave a presentation of the draft (01.txt) and indicated that the purpose was to provide a MIB tree guide for the development of Fibre Channel related MIBs. One of the missing pieces of the draft was the references to the existing MIBs.
- Title: Fibre Channel Management Framework Integration MIB - http URL:draft-ietf-ipfc-fcmgmt-int-mib-01.txt

- David Black gave a verbal status of the MIB and indicated that March 00 looked like a likely date of completion and had slipped by 3 months. David indicated that a large number of companies already had implementation of this MIB.
- Title: Definitions of Managed Objects for the Fabric Element in Fibre Channel Standard - http URL:draft-ietf-ipfc-fabric-element-mib-06.txt <http://search.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-ipfc-fabric-element-mib-06.txt> Kha Sin Teow - Brocade Communications
- Kha Sin gave a very brief presentation on the latest additions to the 06.txt document and was waiting to receive comments form Juergen Schoenwaelder. Juergen who was in the room said he will review the material and have it completed in the very near future. It appears that this document is almost complete. Kha Sin also indicated that both Brocade, McDATA and Ancor had implementations of this MIB.

2. RFC 2625 Next Step:

Slides

IPFC Working Group Agenda