Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points BOF (capwap) Friday, November 14 at 0900-1130 ================================ CHAIRS: Mahalingam Mani(mmani@avaya.com) Dorothy Gellert (dorothy.gellert@nokia.com) AGENDA: Agenda Bashing - 5min Update since Vienna Meeting - July 2003 (10 min.) Architecture Draft (5 min.) Discussion on Architecture Specification (20 min.) Review of Proposed Charter (20 min.) DESCRIPTION: Conventional IETF wisdom has it that wireless access points for non-provisioned wireless media are no more than simple Layer 2 bridges that transparently forward packets between the wired and wireless links. While this is indeed their primary function, in reality, higher layer functions have been gradually migrating into such access points. An example is network access server functionality. Managing this functionality, its interaction between access points, and between access points and access routers has become increasingly difficult. Because some of the functions involve exchange of Layer 2 information, IETF has traditionally maintained that it is "Not Our Problem". On the other hand, because many of the functions either use or provide services with a Layer 3 component, the relevant Layer 2 standardization bodies (such as IEEE for 802.11) have been reluctant to step forward and own the problem either. Recently, next generation 802.11 network infrastructure (also referred to as WLAN switches) have seen significant interest in the market. Several companies, both startups and incumbents in the WLAN space, have announced, or are shipping products. Most of these products have a similar architecture which simplifies control and management of access points, but does not remove the problem of managing the interaction with the IP network. Given the interest in the market for such solutions, there is no doubt that standardizing the interface between the AP and the controller (or WLAN switch) would benefit the Internet community. Would defining a new Layer 2 independent protocol to manage wireless access points both dynamically and statically help? Can existing IETF solutions contribute, and, if so, is there any Layer 2 independent work that IETF might do to adapt those solutions to the problem space? This BoF also responds to concerns and questions raised by IESG and IAB in validating the charter and hopes to have clear response (by way of architecture doc.) on many other issues raised in the mailing list. The goal is to arrive at a clear consensus on problem scope and arrive at a Charter agreement. READING LIST: CAPWAP Architecture: http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-mani-ietf-capwap-arch-00.txt (to be submitted) Lightweight Access Point Protocol http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-calhoun-seamoby-lwapp-03.txt Lightweight Access Point Protocol Security Requirements http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-kelly-ietf-lwapp-sec-00.txt MAILING LIST: List: lwapp@frascone.com Subscribe: lwapp-request@frascone.com Body: subscribe in Subject line Archive: http://mail.frascone.com/pipermail/public/lwapp/