Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) C. Shao Request for Comments: 7494 H. Deng Category: Standards Track China Mobile ISSN: 2070-1721 R. Pazhyannur Cisco Systems F. Bari AT&T R. Zhang China Telecom S. Matsushima SoftBank Telecom April 2015
IEEE 802.11 Medium Access Control (MAC) Profile for Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP)
Abstract
The Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) protocol binding for IEEE 802.11 defines two Medium Access Control (MAC) modes for IEEE 802.11 Wireless Transmission Points (WTPs): Split and Local MAC. In the Split MAC mode, the partitioning of encryption/decryption functions is not clearly defined. In the Split MAC mode description, IEEE 802.11 encryption is specified as located in either the Access Controller (AC) or the WTP, with no clear way for the AC to inform the WTP of where the encryption functionality should be located. This leads to interoperability issues, especially when the AC and WTP come from different vendors. To prevent interoperability issues, this specification defines an IEEE 802.11 MAC Profile message element in which each profile specifies an unambiguous division of encryption functionality between the WTP and AC.
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/rfc7494.
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RFC 7494 CAPWAP MAC Profile April 2015
Copyright Notice
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The CAPWAP protocol supports two MAC modes of operation: Split and Local MAC, as described in [RFC5415] and [RFC5416]. However, there are MAC functions that have not been clearly defined. For example, IEEE 802.11 [IEEE.802.11] encryption is specified as located in either the AC or the WTP with no clear way to negotiate where it should be located. Because different vendors have different definitions of the MAC mode, many MAC-layer functions are mapped differently to either the WTP or the AC by different vendors. Therefore, depending upon the vendor, the operators in their deployments have to perform different configurations based on implementation of the two modes by their vendor. If there is no clear specification, then operators will experience interoperability issues with WTPs and ACs from different vendors.
Figure 1 from [RFC5416] illustrates how some functions are processed in different places in the Local MAC and Split MAC mode. Specifically, note that in the Split MAC mode, the IEEE 802.11 encryption/decryption is specified as WTP/AC, implying that it could be at either location. This is not an issue with Local MAC because encryption is always at the WTP.
To solve this problem, this specification introduces the IEEE 802.11 MAC Profile. The IEEE 802.11 MAC Profile unambiguously specifies where the various MAC functionalities should be located.
The functional split for the Split MAC with WTP encryption is provided in Figure 2. This profile is similar to the Split MAC description in [RFC5416], except that IEEE 802.11 encryption/ decryption is at the WTP. Note that fragmentation is always done at the same entity as the encryption. Consequently, in this profile fragmentation/defragmentation is also done only at the WTP. Note that scheduling functionality is denoted as WTP/AC. As explained in [RFC5416], this means that the admission control component of IEEE 802.11 resides on the AC; the real-time scheduling and queuing functions are on the WTP.
The functional split for the Split MAC with AC encryption is provided in Figure 3. This profile is similar to the Split MAC in [RFC5416], except that IEEE 802.11 encryption/decryption is at the AC. Since fragmentation is always done at the same entity as the encryption, in this profile, AC does fragmentation/defragmentation.
An example of message exchange using the IEEE 802.11 MAC Profile message element is shown in Figure 4. The WTP informs the AC of the various MAC Profiles it supports. This happens in either a Discovery Request message or the Join Request message. The AC determines the appropriate profile and configures the WTP with the profile while configuring the WLAN.
The IEEE 802.11 Supported MAC Profile message element allows the WTP to communicate the profiles it supports. The Discovery Request message, Primary Discovery Request message, and Join Request message may include one such message element.
The IEEE 802.11 MAC Profile message element allows the AC to select a profile. This message element may be provided along with the IEEE 802.11 ADD WLAN message element while configuring a WLAN on the WTP.
This document does not introduce any new security risks compared to [RFC5416]. The negotiation messages between the WTP and AC have origin authentication and data integrity. As a result, an attacker cannot interfere with the messages to force a less-secure mode choice. The security considerations described in [RFC5416] apply here as well.
o This specification defines two new message elements: IEEE 802.11 Supported MAC Profiles (described in Section 3.1) and the IEEE 802.11 MAC Profile (described in Section 3.2). These elements have been registered in the existing "CAPWAP Message Element Type" registry, defined in [RFC5415].
CAPWAP Protocol Message Element Type Value IEEE 802.11 Supported MAC Profiles 1060 IEEE 802.11 MAC Profile 1061
o The IEEE 802.11 Supported MAC Profiles message element and IEEE 802.11 MAC Profile message element include a Profile field (as defined in Section 3.2). The Profile field in the IEEE 802.11 Supported MAC Profiles denotes the MAC Profiles supported by the WTP. The Profile field in the IEEE 802.11 MAC Profile denotes the MAC Profile assigned to the WTP. The namespace for the field is 8 bits (0-255). This specification defines two values: zero (0) and one (1) as described below. The remaining values (2-255) are controlled and maintained by IANA, and the registration procedure is Expert Review [RFC5226]. IANA has created a new subregistry called "IEEE 802.11 Split MAC Profile" under the existing registry "Control And Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) Parameters". The registry format is given below.
Profile Type Value Reference Split MAC with WTP encryption 0 RFC 7494 Split MAC with AC encryption 1 RFC 7494
[IEEE.802.11] IEEE, "IEEE Standard for Information Technology - Telecommunications and information exchange between systems - Local and metropolitan area networks - Specific requirements Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications", IEEE Std 802.11-2012, March 2012, <http://standards.ieee.org/about/get/802/802.11.html>.
[RFC5415] Calhoun, P., Ed., Montemurro, M., Ed., and D. Stanley, Ed., "Control And Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) Protocol Specification", RFC 5415, March 2009, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5415>.
[RFC5416] Calhoun, P., Ed., Montemurro, M., Ed., and D. Stanley, Ed., "Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) Protocol Binding for IEEE 802.11", RFC 5416, March 2009, <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5416>.
The authors are grateful for extremely valuable suggestions from Dorothy Stanley in developing this specification.
Guidance from the management team -- Melinda Shore, Scott Bradner, Chris Liljenstolpe, Benoit Claise, Joel Jaeggli, and Dan Romascanu -- is highly appreciated.
Contributors
Yifan Chen <chenyifan@chinamobile.com>
Naibao Zhou <zhounaibao@chinamobile.com>
Authors' Addresses
Chunju Shao China Mobile No.32 Xuanwumen West Street Beijing 100053 China
EMail: shaochunju@chinamobile.com
Hui Deng China Mobile No.32 Xuanwumen West Street Beijing 100053 China
EMail: denghui@chinamobile.com
Rajesh S. Pazhyannur Cisco Systems 170 West Tasman Drive San Jose, CA 95134 United States
EMail: rpazhyan@cisco.com
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RFC 7494 CAPWAP MAC Profile April 2015
Farooq Bari AT&T 7277 164th Ave NE Redmond, WA 98052 United States
EMail: farooq.bari@att.com
Rong Zhang China Telecom No.109 Zhongshandadao avenue Guangzhou 510630 China
EMail: zhangr@gsta.com
Satoru Matsushima SoftBank Telecom 1-9-1 Higashi-Shinbashi, Munato-ku Tokyo Japan