Generic Routing Encapsulation March 2000

RFC: 2784 Network Dictionary

http://www.javvin.com/networkdiction-
ary.html

Network Protocols Map

Network Working Group D. Farinacci http://www.javvin.com/map.html

Request for Comments: 2784 T. Li

Network Security Map
Category: Standards Track Procket Networks http://www.javvin.com/securitymap.
S. Hanks html
Enron Communications Wireless Communications
D. Meyer Technology Map
Cisco Systems http://www.javvin.com/wirelessmap.
html
P. Traina
Network Protocols Hand-
Juniper Networks
book
March 2000 http://www.javvin.com/model.html

TCP/IP Quick Guide

http://www.javvin.com/tcpipguide.html

Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) Ethernet Quick Guide

http://www.javvin.com/ethernetguide.
html

Packet Analyzer
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DiskShare
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DiskAccess
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LANsurveyor
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CyberGauge
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html

Easy Network Service

Monitor
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Business Card Scanner

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scanner.html
Color Cards and Picture
Scanner
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ner.html
Portable Document Scan-
ner
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ner.html
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Generic Routing Encapsulation March 2000

Status of this Memo Network Dictionary

http://www.javvin.com/networkdiction-
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests ary.html
discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official
Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this Network Protocols Map
memo is unlimited. http://www.javvin.com/map.html

Network Security Map

Copyright Notice http://www.javvin.com/securitymap.
html
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved. Wireless Communications
Technology Map
Abstract http://www.javvin.com/wirelessmap.
html
This document specifies a protocol for encapsulation of an arbitrary network layer protocol over another Network Protocols Hand-
arbitrary network layer protocol. book
http://www.javvin.com/model.html
1. Introduction TCP/IP Quick Guide
http://www.javvin.com/tcpipguide.html
A number of different proposals [RFC1234, RFC1226] currently exist for the encapsulation of one protocol
over another protocol. Other types of encapsulations [RFC1241, RFC1479] have been proposed for trans-
porting IP over IP for policy purposes. This memo describes a protocol which is very similar to, but is more Ethernet Quick Guide
general than, the above proposals. In attempting to be more general, many protocol specific nuances have http://www.javvin.com/ethernetguide.
been ignored. The result is that this proposal may be less suitable for a situation where a specific "X over html
Y" encapsulation has been described. It is the attempt of this protocol to provide a simple, general purpose
mechanism which reduces the problem of encapsulation from its current O(n^2) size to a more manage- Packet Analyzer
able size. This memo purposely does not address the issue of when a packet should be encapsulated. This http://www.javvin.com/packet.html
memo acknowledges, but does not address problems such as mutual encapsulation [RFC1326]. In the most
general case, a system has a packet that needs to be encapsulated and delivered to some destination. We will DiskShare
call this the payload packet. The payload is first encapsulated in a GRE packet. The resulting GRE packet http://www.javvin.com/diskshare.html
can then be encapsulated in some other protocol and then forwarded. We will call this outer protocol the
delivery protocol. The algorithms for processing this packet are discussed later.
DiskAccess
Finally this specification describes the intersection of GRE currently deployed by multiple vendors. http://www.javvin.com/diskaccess.html

The keywords MUST, MUST NOT, MAY, OPTIONAL, REQUIRED, RECOMMENDED, SHALL, LANsurveyor
SHALL NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT are to be interpreted as defined in RFC 2119 [RFC2119]. http://www.javvin.com/LANsurveyor.
html

2. Structure of a GRE Encapsulated Packet CyberGauge

http://www.javvin.com/CyberGauge.
A GRE encapsulated packet has the form: html

Delivery Header Easy Network Service

GRE Header Monitor
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Payload packet
Business Card Scanner
This specification is generally concerned with the structure of the GRE header, although special consider- http://www.javvin.com/businesscard-
ation is given to some of the issues surrounding IPv4 payloads. scanner.html
Color Cards and Picture
2.1. GRE Header Scanner
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The GRE packet header has the form: ner.html
Portable Document Scan-
ner
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ner.html
www.javvin.com

www.networkdictionary.
2.2. Checksum Present (bit 0) com
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Generic Routing Encapsulation March 2000

Network Dictionary
If the Checksum Present bit is set to one, then the Checksum and the Reserved1 fields are present and http://www.javvin.com/networkdiction-
the Checksum field contains valid information. Note that a compliant implementation MUST accept and ary.html
process this field.
Network Protocols Map
2.3. Reserved0 (bits 1-12) http://www.javvin.com/map.html

A receiver MUST discard a packet where any of bits 1-5 are non-zero, unless that receiver implements Network Security Map
RFC 1701. Bits 6-12 are reserved for future use. These bits MUST be sent as zero and MUST be ignored http://www.javvin.com/securitymap.
on receipt. html
Wireless Communications
2.3.1. Version Number (bits 13-15) Technology Map
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The Version Number field MUST contain the value zero. html
Network Protocols Hand-
2.4. Protocol Type (2 octets) book
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The Protocol Type field contains the protocol type of the payload packet. These Protocol Types are defined
in [RFC1700] as "ETHER TYPES" and in [ETYPES]. An implementation receiving a packet containing a TCP/IP Quick Guide
Protocol Type which is not listed in [RFC1700] or [ETYPES] SHOULD discard the packet. http://www.javvin.com/tcpipguide.html

2.5. Checksum (2 octets) Ethernet Quick Guide

http://www.javvin.com/ethernetguide.
The Checksum field contains the IP (one's complement) checksum sum of the all the 16 bit words in the html
GRE header and the payload packet. For purposes of computing the checksum, the value of the checksum
field is zero. This field is present only if the Checksum Present bit is set to one. Packet Analyzer
http://www.javvin.com/packet.html
2.6. Reserved1 (2 octets)
DiskShare
The Reserved1 field is reserved for future use, and if present, MUST be transmitted as zero. The Reserved1 http://www.javvin.com/diskshare.html
field is present only when the Checksum field is present (that is, Checksum Present bit is set to one).
DiskAccess
3. IPv4 as a Payload http://www.javvin.com/diskaccess.html

When IPv4 is being carried as the GRE payload, the Protocol Type field MUST be set to 0x800. LANsurveyor
http://www.javvin.com/LANsurveyor.
html
3.1. Forwarding Decapsulated IPv4 Payload Packets
CyberGauge
When a tunnel endpoint decapsulates a GRE packet which has an IPv4 packet as the payload, the destina- http://www.javvin.com/CyberGauge.
tion address in the IPv4 payload packet header MUST be used to forward the packet and the TTL of the html
payload packet MUST be decremented. Care should be taken when forwarding such a packet, since if the
destination address of the payload packet is the encapsulator of the packet (i.e., the other end of the tunnel), Easy Network Service
looping can occur. In this case, the packet MUST be discarded.
Monitor
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4. IPv4 as a Delivery Protocol Business Card Scanner
http://www.javvin.com/businesscard-
The IPv4 protocol 47 [RFC1700] is used when GRE packets are enapsulated in IPv4. See [RFC1122] for scanner.html
requirements relating to the delivery of packets over IPv4 networks.
Color Cards and Picture
Scanner
5. Interoperation with RFC 1701 Compliant Im- http://www.javvin.com/colorcardscan-
ner.html
plementations Portable Document Scan-
In RFC 1701, the field described here as Reserved0 contained a number of flag bits which this specification
ner
http://www.javvin.com/portablescan-
deprecates. In particular, the Routing Present, Key Present, Sequence Number Present, and Strict Source
ner.html
Route bits have been deprecated, along with the Recursion Control field. As a result, the GRE header will
never contain the Key, Sequence Number or Routing fields specified in RFC 1701. www.javvin.com
There are, however, existing implementations of RFC 1701. The following sections describe correct inter- www.networkdictionary.
operation with such implementations.
com
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Generic Routing Encapsulation March 2000

Network Dictionary
5.1. RFC 1701 Compliant Receiver http://www.javvin.com/networkdiction-
ary.html
An implementation complying to this specification will transmit the Reserved0 field set to zero. An RFC
1701 compliant receiver will interpret this as having the Routing Present, Key Present, Sequence Number Network Protocols Map
Present, and Strict Source Route bits set to zero, and will not expect the RFC 1701 Key, Sequence Number http://www.javvin.com/map.html
or Routing fields to be present.
Network Security Map
http://www.javvin.com/securitymap.
5.2. RFC 1701 Compliant Transmitter html
An RFC 1701 transmitter may set any of the Routing Present, Key Present, Sequence Number Present, and Wireless Communications
Strict Source Route bits set to one, and thus may transmit the RFC 1701 Key, Sequence Number or Routing Technology Map
fields in the GRE header. As stated in Section 5.3, a packet with non-zero bits in any of bits 1-5 MUST be http://www.javvin.com/wirelessmap.
discarded unless the receiver implements RFC 1701. html
Network Protocols Hand-
6. Security Considerations book
http://www.javvin.com/model.html
Security in a network using GRE should be relatively similar to security in a normal IPv4 network, as rout-
ing using GRE follows the same routing that IPv4 uses natively. Route filtering will remain unchanged.
TCP/IP Quick Guide
http://www.javvin.com/tcpipguide.html
However packet filtering requires either that a firewall look inside the GRE packet or that the filtering is
done on the GRE tunnel endpoints. In those environments in which this is considered to be a security issue
it may be desirable to terminate the tunnel at the firewall.
Ethernet Quick Guide
http://www.javvin.com/ethernetguide.
7. IANA Considerations html

This section considers the assignment of additional GRE Version Numbers and Protocol Types.
Packet Analyzer
http://www.javvin.com/packet.html

7.1. GRE Version Numbers DiskShare

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This document specifies GRE version number 0. GRE version number 1 is used by PPTP [RFC2637]. Ad-
ditional GRE version numbers are assigned by IETF Consensus as defined in RFC 2434 [RFC2434].
DiskAccess
http://www.javvin.com/diskaccess.html
7.2. Protocol Types
LANsurveyor
GRE uses an ETHER Type for the Protocol Type. New ETHER TYPES are assigned by Xerox Systems http://www.javvin.com/LANsurveyor.
Institute [RFC1700]. html

CyberGauge
8. Acknowledgments http://www.javvin.com/CyberGauge.
html
This document is derived from the original ideas of the authors of RFC 1701 and RFC 1702. Hitoshi Asae-
da, Scott Bradner, Randy Bush, Brian Carpenter, Bill Fenner, Andy Malis, Thomas Narten, Dave Thaler, Easy Network Service
Tim Gleeson and others provided many constructive and insightful comments.
Monitor
http://www.javvin.com/easy.html
9. Appendix -- Known Issues Business Card Scanner
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This document specifies the behavior of currently deployed GRE implementations. As such, it does not scanner.html
attempt to address the following known issues:
Color Cards and Picture
o Interaction Path MTU Discovery (PMTU) [RFC1191] Scanner
http://www.javvin.com/colorcardscan-
Existing implementations of GRE, when using IPv4 as the Delivery Header, do not implement Path ner.html
MTU discovery and do not set the Don't Fragment bit in the Delivery Header. This can cause large Portable Document Scan-
packets to become fragmented within the tunnel and reassembled at the tunnel exit (independent of
whether the payload packet is using PMTU). If a tunnel entry point were to use Path MTU discovery, ner
however, that tunnel entry point would also need to relay ICMP unreachable error messages (in par- http://www.javvin.com/portablescan-
ticular the "fragmentation needed and DF set" code) back to the originator of the packet, which is not ner.html
a requirement in this specification. Failure to properly relay Path MTU information to an originator www.javvin.com
can result in the following behavior: the originator sets the don't fragment bit, the packet gets dropped
within the tunnel, but since the originator doesn't receive proper feedback, it retransmits with the same www.networkdictionary.
PMTU, causing subsequently transmitted packets to be dropped.
com
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Generic Routing Encapsulation March 2000

Network Dictionary
o IPv6 as Delivery and/or Payload Protocol http://www.javvin.com/networkdiction-
ary.html
This specification describes the intersection of GRE currently deployed by multiple vendors. IPv6 as
delivery and/or payload protocol is not included in the currently deployed versions of GRE. Network Protocols Map
http://www.javvin.com/map.html
o Interaction with ICMP

o Interaction with the Differentiated Services Architecture Network Security Map

http://www.javvin.com/securitymap.
o Multiple and Looping Encapsulations html
Wireless Communications
Technology Map
10. REFERENCES http://www.javvin.com/wirelessmap.
html
[ETYPES] ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/ethernet- numbers
Network Protocols Hand-
[RFC1122] Braden, R., "Requirements for Internet hosts - communication layers", STD 3, RFC 1122, book
October 1989. http://www.javvin.com/model.html

[RFC1191] Mogul, J. and S. Deering, "Path MTU Discovery", RFC 1191, November 1990.
TCP/IP Quick Guide
http://www.javvin.com/tcpipguide.html
[RFC1226] Kantor, B., "Internet Protocol Encapsulation of AX.25 Frames", RFC 1226, May 1991.

[RFC1234] Provan, D., "Tunneling IPX Traffic through IP Networks", RFC 1234, June 1991.
Ethernet Quick Guide
http://www.javvin.com/ethernetguide.
html
[RFC1241] Woodburn, R. and D. Mills, "Scheme for an Internet Encapsulation Protocol: Version 1", RFC
1241, July 1991.
Packet Analyzer
http://www.javvin.com/packet.html
[RFC1326] Tsuchiya, P., "Mutual Encapsulation Considered Dangerous", RFC 1326, May 1992.

[RFC1479] Steenstrup, M., "Inter-Domain Policy Routing Protocol Specification: Version 1", RFC 1479, DiskShare
July 1993. http://www.javvin.com/diskshare.html

[RFC1700] Reynolds, J. and J. Postel, "Assigned Numbers", STD 2, RFC 1700, October 1994. DiskAccess
http://www.javvin.com/diskaccess.html
[RFC1701] Hanks, S., Li, T., Farinacci, D. and P. Traina, "Generic Routing Encapsulation", RFC 1701,
October 1994.
LANsurveyor
http://www.javvin.com/LANsurveyor.
[RFC1702] Hanks, S., Li, T., Farinacci, D. and P. Traina, "Generic Routing Encapsulation over IPv4 net-
html
works", RFC 1702, October 1994.

[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
CyberGauge
http://www.javvin.com/CyberGauge.
March, 1997.
html
[RFC2408] Maughan, D., Schertler, M., Schneider, M. and J. Turner, "Internet Security Association and
Key Management Protocol (ISAKMP)", RFC 2408, November 1998.
Easy Network Service
Monitor
[RFC2434] Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in http://www.javvin.com/easy.html
RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 2434, October, 1998.
Business Card Scanner
http://www.javvin.com/businesscard-
[RFC2637] Hamzeh, K., et al., "Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP)", RFC 2637, July, 1999.
scanner.html
Color Cards and Picture
11. Authors' Addresses Scanner
http://www.javvin.com/colorcardscan-
Dino Farinacci ner.html
Procket Networks
3850 No. First St., Ste. C
Portable Document Scan-
San Jose, CA 95134 ner
http://www.javvin.com/portablescan-
EMail: dino@procket.com ner.html
www.javvin.com
Tony Li
Procket Networks
www.networkdictionary.
3850 No. First St., Ste. C com
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Generic Routing Encapsulation March 2000

San Jose, CA 95134 Network Dictionary

http://www.javvin.com/networkdiction-
Phone: +1 408 954 7903 ary.html
Fax: +1 408 987 6166
EMail: tony1@home.net Network Protocols Map
http://www.javvin.com/map.html

Stan Hanks
Enron Communications Network Security Map
http://www.javvin.com/securitymap.
EMail: stan_hanks@enron.net html
Wireless Communications
Technology Map
David Meyer http://www.javvin.com/wirelessmap.
Cisco Systems, Inc. html
170 Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA, 95134
Network Protocols Hand-
book
EMail: dmm@cisco.com http://www.javvin.com/model.html

TCP/IP Quick Guide

http://www.javvin.com/tcpipguide.html
Paul Traina
Juniper Networks
EMail: pst@juniper.net
Ethernet Quick Guide
http://www.javvin.com/ethernetguide.
12. Full Copyright Statement html

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved.

Packet Analyzer
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This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to others, and derivative works that
comment on or otherwise explain it or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and DiskShare
distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind, provided that the above copyright notice http://www.javvin.com/diskshare.html
and this paragraph are included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this document itself
may not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice or references to the Internet DiskAccess
Society or other Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing Internet standards http://www.javvin.com/diskaccess.html
in which case the procedures for copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or
as required to translate it into languages other than English.
LANsurveyor
http://www.javvin.com/LANsurveyor.
The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be revoked by the Internet Society or its
html
successors or assigns.

This document and the information contained herein is provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET
CyberGauge
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SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES,
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EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE
OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WAR-
RANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
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Monitor
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Acknowledgement Business Card Scanner
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Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the Internet Society.
scanner.html
Color Cards and Picture
Scanner
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ner.html
Portable Document Scan-
ner
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ner.html
www.javvin.com

www.networkdictionary.
com
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