RFC 1683 (rfc1683) - Page 2 of 12
Multiprotocol Interoperability In IPng
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1683 Multiprotocol Interoperability In IPng August 1994
over the Internet between two Novell networks. Furthermore, the
introduction of IPng is not going to result in a near term
elimination of IPv4. Even when IPng becomes the primary protocol
used in the Internet, there will still be IPv4 systems in use. We
should consider such multiprotocol uses of the network as we design
future protocols that can efficiently handle mixed protocol traffic.
We have identified several issues related to the way in which
protocols operate in a multiprotocol environment. Many of these
issues have traditionally been deemed "less important" by protocol
designers since their goal was to optimize for the case where all
systems supported the same protocol. With the increasing diversity
of network protocols, this approach is no longer practical. By
addressing the issues outlined in this paper, we can simplify the
introduction of IPng to the Internet and reduce the risk for network
managers faced with the prospect of supporting a new protocol. This
will result in a faster, wider acceptance of IPng and increased
interoperability between Internet hosts. In addition, by designing
IPng to address these issues, we will make the introduction of future
protocols (IPng2) even easier.
The outline for this document is as follows. In Section 3 we
motivate the issues of multiprotocol networking with a discussion of
an example system. In Section 4 we describe three main techniques
for dealing with multiple protocols. This is followed in Section 5
by a description of the various protocol features that are important
for implementing these three techniques. We conclude in Section 6
with a summary of the issues raised.
3. Multiprotocol Systems
Consider the multiprotocol architecture depicted in Figure 1. A
system supporting this architecture provides a generic file-transfer
service using either the Internet or OSI protocol stacks. The
generic service presents the user with a consistent interface,
regardless of the actual protocols used. The user can transfer files
between this host and hosts supporting either of the single protocol
stacks presented in Figures 2a and 2b. To carry out this file
transfer, the user is not required to decide which protocols to use
or to adjust between different application interfaces.
Clark, Ammar & Calvert