Subject: Comments on draft-ietf-ipdvb-ar-03.txt

From: Martin Stiemerling <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 15:39:40 +0200

Dear All,

I have read the draft Address Resolution for IP Datagrams over
MPEG-2 Networks (draft-ietf-ipdvb-ar-03.txt) and got to some
questions.

Some nits:
-  In Section 6.2, 6.3, and 6.4 it reads that the Ethernet Type  
(EtherType) is
    IANA assigned. This is IMO wrong, since the Ethernet Types are  
allocated
    by the IEEE. IANA only maintains a list of used (or once seen) types
    (http://www.iana.org/assignments/ethernet-numbers).

- The section heading of 5.1 is too long, i.e., it is wrapped into  
two lines.

- I assume the document should be the part on Submit AR Framework to
   IESG of the WG charter. If so, it would be good if the document  
title or
   the introduction would reflect this.

Overall comments:

As stated in the above section about nits, I assume the document should
give the framework of address resolution for IP datagrams over MPEG-2
networks.

The document gives an excellent overview about the actuall problem
to be solved and the existing address resolution mechanisms in the IP
world plus their mapping to MPEG-2 networks. The coverage of not only
one technology but the inclusion of DVB, ATSC, DOCSIS and the
respective variants in system tables is very helpful to understand
the problem space and the trickiness of a fits all solution :-)

After reading the whole document I have been nevertheless confused
about it. When reading the title, I would expect a solution and after
reading the document I did not know what the real conclusion of
the document is. There are recommendations for the single
technologies/techniques, which are fully OK, but what would be the
next steps towards the address resolution solution? Can we reuse
the existing protocols or do we need to go ahead with a new
AR protocol (as the WG charter would let assume)?

Kind Regards,

     Martin Stiemerling

NEC Europe Ltd. -- Network Laboratories [email-masked]
PGP Key at:        http://www.stiemerling.org/stiemerling_nec.gpg
WWW: http://www.netlab.nec.de