RFC 2428 (rfc2428) - Page 1 of 8

FTP Extensions for IPv6 and NATs

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Network Working Group                                          M. Allman
Request for Comments: 2428                  NASA Lewis/Sterling Software
Category: Standards Track                                   S. Ostermann
                                                         Ohio University
                                                                 C. Metz
                                                           The Inner Net
                                                          September 1998


                    FTP Extensions for IPv6 and NATs

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests 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 memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   The specification for the File Transfer Protocol assumes that the
   underlying network protocol uses a 32-bit network address
   (specifically IP version 4).  With the deployment of version 6 of the
   Internet Protocol, network addresses will no longer be 32-bits.  This
   paper specifies extensions to FTP that will allow the protocol to
   work over IPv4 and IPv6.  In addition, the framework defined can
   support additional network protocols in the future.

1.  Introduction

   The keywords, such as MUST and SHOULD, found in this document are
   used as defined in RFC 2119 [Bra97].

   The File Transfer Protocol [PR85] only provides the ability to
   communicate information about IPv4 data connections.  FTP assumes
   network addresses will be 32 bits in length.  However, with the
   deployment of version 6 of the Internet Protocol [DH96] addresses
   will no longer be 32 bits long.  RFC 1639 [Pis94] specifies
   extensions to FTP to enable its use over various network protocols.
   Unfortunately, the mechanism can fail in a multi-protocol
   environment.  During the transition between IPv4 and IPv6, FTP needs
   the ability to negotiate the network protocol that will be used for
   data transfer.



Allman, et. al.             Standards Track
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