Deploying IPv6 in 3GPP Networks: Evolving Mobile Broadband from 2G to LTE and Beyond

Deploying IPv6 in 3GPP Networks – Evolving Mobile Broadband from 2G to LTE and Beyond  A practical guide enabling mobile operators to deploy IPv6 with confidence The most widely used cellular mobile broadband network technology is based on the 3GPP standards. The history and background of the 3GPP technology is in the Global Mobile Service (GSM) technology and the work done in European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). This primary voice service network has evolved to be the dominant mobile Internet access technology. Deploying IPv6 in 3GPP Networks covers how Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is currently defined in the industry standards for cellular mobile broadband, why and how this route was taken in the technology, and what is the current reality of the deployment. Furthermore, it offers the authors’ views on how some possible IPv6 related advances 3GPP networks may be improved during the coming years. It gives guidance how to implement and deploy IPv6 correctly in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) mobile broadband environment, and what issues one may face when doing so. The book covers 3GPP technologies from 2G to LTE, and offers some ideas for the future.          Key features written by highly respected and experienced authors from the IPv6 / mobile world Provides an explanation of the technical background for some not-so-obvious design choices, what to concentrate on, and what transition strategies should be used by the vendors and the operators Offers a useful reference guide for operators and vendors entering into IPv6 business

Table of Contents:
Foreword xvii Preface xix Acknowledgments xxi Acronyms xxiii Glossary xxxiii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Introduction to Internet and the Internet Protocol 2 1.2 Internet Principles 2 1.3 The Internet Protocol 4 1.3.1 Networks of Networks 6 1.3.2 Routing and Forwarding 7 1.4 Internet Protocol Addresses 9 1.4.1 IPv4 Addresses 9 1.4.2 IPv6 Addresses 11 1.5 Transport Protocols 12 1.5.1 User Datagram Protocol 13 1.5.2 Transmission Control Protocol 13 1.5.3 Port Numbers and Services 14 1.6 Domain Name Service 14 1.6.1 DNS Structure 14 1.6.2 DNS Operation 15 1.6.3 Top Level Domain 16 1.6.4 Internationalized Domain Names 17 1.7 IPv4 Address Exhaustion 17 1.7.1 IP Address Allocation 18 1.7.2 History of IPv4 Address Exhaustion 19 1.8 IPv6 History Thus Far 21 1.8.1 IPv6 Technology Maturity 21 1.8.2 IPv6 Network Deployments 22 1.9 Ongoing Cellular Deployments 23 1.10 Chapter Summary 24 1.11 Suggested Reading 24 References 24 2 Basics of the 3GPP Technologies 27 2.1 Standardization and Specifications 27 2.1.1 3GPP Standardization Process 28 2.1.2 IETF Standardization Process 31 2.1.3 Other Important Organizations in the 3GPP-Ecosystem 33 2.2 Introduction to 3GPP Network Architecture and Protocols 34 2.2.1 GSM System 34 2.2.2 General Packet Radio Service 36 2.2.3 Evolved Packet System 41 2.2.4 Control and User Planes, and Transport and User Layer Separation 44 2.3 3GPP Protocols 45 2.3.1 Control-Plane Protocols 46 2.3.2 User-Plane Protocols 53 2.3.3 GPRS Tunneling Protocol Versions 55 2.3.4 PMIP Based EPS Architecture 56 2.4 Mobility and Roaming 58 2.4.1 Mobility Management 59 2.4.2 Roaming 60 2.4.3 Mobility Management Beyond 3GPP 60 2.5 Central Concepts for IP Connectivity 61 2.5.1 PDP Contexts and EPS Bearers 61 2.5.2 Access Point Name 63 2.5.3 Traffic Flow Template 64 2.5.4 3GPP Link Model Principles 65 2.5.5 Multiple Packet Data Network Connections 67 2.6 User Equipment 68 2.6.1 Traditional 3GPP UE Model 69 2.6.2 Split-UE 69 2.7 Subscription Management Databases and Other Backend Systems 70 2.7.1 Home Location Register and Authentication Center 70 2.7.2 Home Subscriber Server 71 2.7.3 Equipment Identity Register 71 2.7.4 Other Backend Systems 71 2.8 End-to-end View from the User Equipment to the Internet 72 2.8.1 GPRS 72 2.8.2 EPS 73 2.9 Chapter Summary 75 2.10 Suggested Reading 75 References 76 3 Introduction to IPv6 79 3.1 IPv6 Addressing Architecture 80 3.1.1 IPv6 Address Format 80 3.1.2 IPv6 Address Types 81 3.1.3 IPv6 Address Scopes 81 3.1.4 IPv6 Addressing Zones 82 3.1.5 IPv6 Addresses on Network Interfaces 82 3.1.6 Interface Identifier and the Modified EUI-64 83 3.1.7 IPv6 Address Space Allocations 84 3.1.8 Special IPv6 Address Formats 84 3.1.9 Textual Presentations of IPv6 Addresses 86 3.2 IPv6 Packet Header Structure and Extensibility 87 3.2.1 Traffic Class and Flow Label 88 3.2.2 IPv6 Extension Headers 90 3.2.3 MTU and Fragmentation 92 3.2.4 Multicast 94 3.3 Internet Control Message Protocol Version 6 97 3.3.1 Error Messages 98 3.3.2 Informational Messages 100 3.4 Neighbor Discovery Protocol 101 3.4.1 Router Discovery 101 3.4.2 Parameter Discovery 102 3.4.3 On-link Determination 104 3.4.4 Link-layer Address Resolution 104 3.4.5 Neighbor Unreachability Detection 105 3.4.6 Next-hop Determination 106 3.4.7 Duplicate Address Detection 106 3.4.8 Redirect 107 3.4.9 Secure Neighbor Discovery 107 3.4.10 Neighbor Discovery Proxies 108 3.5 Address Configuration and Selection Approaches 109 3.5.1 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration 110 3.5.2 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Version 6 112 3.5.3 IKEv2 117 3.5.4 Address Selection 118 3.5.5 Privacy and Cryptographically Generated Addresses 120 3.5.6 Router Selection 121 3.6 IPv6 Link Types and Models 122 3.6.1 IPv6 over Point-to-point Links 123 3.6.2 IPv6 over Shared Media 124 3.6.3 Link Numbering 125 3.6.4 Bridging of Link Types 126 3.7 Mobile IP 126 3.7.1 Detecting Network Attachment 126 3.7.2 Host-based Mobile IP 127 3.7.3 Network-based Mobile IP 128 3.8 IP Security 130 3.8.1 Security Protocols 131 3.8.2 Security Associations 131 3.8.3 Key Management 132 3.8.4 Cryptographic Algorithms 132 3.8.5 MOBIKE 132 3.9 Application Programming Interfaces 133 3.9.1 Socket APIs 133 3.9.2 Address Family Agnostic APIs 133 3.9.3 IP Address Literals and Unique Resource Identifiers 134 3.9.4 Happy Eyeballs 134 3.10 Implications of IPv6 for Other Protocols 136 3.10.1 Transport Layer Protocols 136 3.10.2 Domain Name System 137 3.10.3 Applications 141 3.10.4 Internet Routing 141 3.10.5 Management Information Base 143 3.11 Validation and Certification 144 3.11.1 Test Suites 144 3.11.2 IPv6 Ready Logo 144 3.12 Example IPv6 Packet Flows 145 3.12.1 IPv6 on Ethernet 146 3.12.2 IPv6 with DNS and TCP 153 3.13 Chapter Summary 155 References 156 4 IPv6 in 3GPP Networks 163 4.1 PDN Connectivity Service 163 4.1.1 Bearer Concept 164 4.1.2 PDP and PDN Types 166 4.1.3 Link Models in 3GPP 168 4.2 End User IPv6 Service Impact on the 3GPP System 172 4.2.1 User, Control and Transport Planes 172 4.2.2 Affected Networking Elements 173 4.2.3 Charging and Billing 180 4.2.4 External PDN Access and the (S)Gi Interface 182 4.2.5 Roaming Challenges 187 4.3 End User IPv6 Service Impact on GTP and PMIPv6 Protocols 189 4.3.1 GTP Control Plane Version 1 189 4.3.2 GTP Control Plane Version 2 191 4.3.3 GTP User Plane 194 4.3.4 PMIPv6 194 4.4 IP Address Assignment, Configuration, and Management 195 4.4.1 Addressing Assumptions 195 4.4.2 Stateless IPv6 Address Autoconfiguration 197 4.4.3 Stateful IPv6 Address Configuration 200 4.4.4 Deferred Address Allocation 200 4.4.5 Static IPv6 Addressing 201 4.4.6 IPv6 Prefix Delegation 204 4.4.7 NAS Protocol Signaling and PCO Options 207 4.4.8 Initial E-UTRAN Attach Example with IPv4 and IPv6 Address Configuration 211 4.5 Bearer Establishment and Fallback Scenarios 214 4.5.1 Initial Connection Establishment 214 4.5.2 Backward Compatibility with Earlier Releases 215 4.5.3 Dual Address Bearer Flag 215 4.5.4 Requested PDN Type Handling in a PGW 216 4.5.5 Fallback Scenarios and Rules 217 4.5.6 Inter-RAT Handovers and Inter-SGSN Routing Area Updates 218 4.6 Signaling Interfaces 219 4.6.1 IPv6 as Transport 219 4.6.2 IPv6 in Information Element Level 219 4.7 User Equipment Specific Considerations 220 4.7.1 IPv6 and Impacted Layers 220 4.7.2 Required RFCs for Host UEs 222 4.7.3 DNS Issues 223 4.7.4 Provisioning 224 4.7.5 IPv6 Tethering 225 4.7.6 IPv6 Application Support 227 4.8 Multicast 227 4.9 Known IPv6 Issues and Anomalies 228 4.9.1 IPv6 Neighbor Discovery Considerations 229 4.9.2 PDN Connection Model and Multiple IPv6 Prefixes 233 4.10 IPv6 Specific Security Considerations 233 4.10.1 IPv6 Addressing Threats 234 4.10.2 IPv6 First-hop Security 236 4.10.3 IPv6 Extension Header Exploits 237 4.11 Chapter Summary 239 References 240 5 IPv6 Transition Mechanisms for 3GPP Networks 248 5.1 Motivation for Transition Mechanisms 248 5.1.1 Phasing the Transition 250 5.2 Technology Overview 251 5.2.1 Translation 251 5.2.2 Encapsulation 253 5.2.3 Mesh or Hub-and-spoke 254 5.2.4 Scalability Concerns 255 5.3 Transition Toolbox 255 5.3.1 Transition Solutions Not Included 256 5.3.2 Dual-stack 257 5.3.3 NAT64 and DNS64 258 5.3.4 464XLAT 269 5.3.5 Bump-In-the-Host 271 5.3.6 Mapping Address and Port Number 272 5.3.7 Other Tunneling or Translation Based Transition Mechanisms 275 5.4 Transition Scenarios for 3GPP 277 5.4.1 Transition Scenario Evolution 278 5.4.2 Dual-stack 280 5.4.3 IPv6-only 281 5.4.4 Double Translation 281 5.5 Transition Impacts on 3GPP Architecture 282 5.5.1 Transition Impact on the Supporting Infrastructure 282 5.5.2 IP Network Support Systems 283 5.5.3 Tools to Divide Subscribers Per IP Capability 285 5.5.4 Translation Implications 286 5.5.5 Transition Support in the Transport Plane 287 5.5.6 Roaming 287 5.5.7 Impact of Delayed Transition to IPv6 288 5.6 Transitioning to IPv6 289 5.6.1 Application Developer’s Transition Plan 290 5.6.2 Phone Vendor’s Transition Plan 290 5.6.3 Network Operator’s Transition Checklist 290 5.7 Chapter Summary 292 References 293 6 Future of IPv6 in 3GPP Networks 296 6.1 IPv6-based Traffic Offloading Solutions 296 6.1.1 Motivations in Cellular Networks 297 6.1.2 Benefits of IPv6-based Offloading Approaches 299 6.1.3 IP-friendly Offloading Solutions 299 6.1.4 Concluding Remarks 303 6.2 Evolving 3GPP Bearers to Multiple Prefixes and Next-hop Routers 304 6.2.1 Background and Motivation 304 6.2.2 Multi-prefix Bearer Solution Proposal 305 6.2.3 Overall Impact Analysis 311 6.2.4 Open Issues and Future Work 313 6.3 LTE as the Uplink Access for Home Networks 313 6.3.1 Homenet at IETF 313 6.3.2 Homenet and 3GPP Architecture 314 6.3.3 Additional 3GPP Deployment Options 315 6.4 Port Control Protocol 316 6.4.1 Deployment Scenarios 317 6.4.2 Protocol Features 318 6.4.3 PCP Server Discovery 319 6.4.4 Protocol Messages 319 6.4.5 Cascaded NATs 320 6.4.6 Relation to IPv6 Transition 320 6.5 Internet of Things 321 6.5.1 Typical Use Cases 321 6.5.2 Standardization Organizations Working with IoT 322 6.5.3 IoT Domain from the 3GPP Point of View 327 6.5.4 Implications to UEs 328 6.5.5 Implications to 3GPP Networks 329 6.6 Chapter Summary 331 References 332 Index 337