RFC 7872 · INFORMATIONAL · 2016

Observations on the Dropping of Packets with IPv6 Extension Headers in the Real World

Overview

RFC 7872, “Observations on the Dropping of Packets with IPv6 Extension Headers in the Real World”, is an Informational document published in June 2016 by F. Gont, J. Linkova, T. Chown, W. Liu. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.

Abstract

This document presents real-world data regarding the extent to which packets with IPv6 Extension Headers (EHs) are dropped in the Internet (as originally measured in August 2014 and later in June 2015, with similar results) and where in the network such dropping occurs. The aforementioned results serve as a problem statement that is expected to trigger operational advice on the filtering of IPv6 packets carrying IPv6 EHs so that the situation improves over time. This document also explains how the results were obtained, such that the corresponding measurements can be reproduced by other members of the community and repeated over time to observe changes in the handling of packets with IPv6 EHs.

Abstract as published in the RFC, via rfc-editor.org.

What “Informational” means

Published for the general information of the community. It does not define an IETF standard and carries no standards-track status.

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