14. Guidelines for New Features
This section discusses guidelines of new protocol features defined in this document. It also sets some expectations for implementation and deployment of these features. This section is informative in nature: it does not override the detailed specifications of the previous sections but summarizes them and presents them in a compact form, to be used as checklists. The checklists act as guidelines to indicate the possible importance of a feature in terms of a deployment as per information available as of the writing of the document. Note that in some cases the deployment is 'SHOULD' where the implementation is a 'MUST'. This is due to the presence of substitutable features; the deployment may use alternative methods for those. Therefore, implementing a configuration knob is recommended for the substitutable features. The lists emphasize conciseness over completeness.
| Section | Description | Deploy | Implement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | Host-initiated RA | MUST | MUST |
| 3.2 | EUI-64-based IPv6 address | MUST | MUST |
| 16-bit MAC-based address | MAY | SHOULD | |
| Other non-unique addresses | MAY | MAY | |
| 3.3 | Host-initiated RS | MUST | MUST |
| ABRO processing | SHOULD | MUST | |
| 4.1 | Registration with ARO | MUST | MUST |
| 4.2, 5.4 | 6CO | SHOULD | SHOULD |
| 5.2 | Joining solicited-node multicast | N/A | N/A |
| Joining all-nodes multicast | MUST | MUST | |
| Using link-layer indication for NUD | MAY | MAY | |
| 5.5 | 6LoWPAN-ND NUD | MUST | MUST |
| 5.8.2 | Behavior on wakeup | SHOULD | SHOULD |
Table 3: Guideline for 6LoWPAN-ND Features for Hosts
| Section | Description | Deploy | Implement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | Periodic RA | SHOULD NOT | SHOULD NOT |
| 3.2 | Address assignment during startup | SHOULD | MUST |
| 3.3 | Supporting EUI-64-based MAC hosts | MUST | MUST |
| Supporting 16-bit MAC hosts | MAY | SHOULD | |
| 3.4, 4.3, 8.1.3, 8.1.4 | ABRO processing/sending | SHOULD | MUST |
| 8.1 | Multihop prefix storing and redistribution | SHOULD | MUST |
| 3.5 | Tentative NCE | MUST | MUST |
| 8.2 | Multihop DAD | SHOULD | MUST |
| 4.1, 6.5, 6.5.1 - 6.5.5 | ARO support | MUST | MUST |
| 4.2 | 6CO | SHOULD | SHOULD |
| 6.3 | Process RS/ABRO | MUST | MUST |
Table 4: Guideline for 6LR Features in 6LoWPAN-ND
| Section | Description | Deploy | Implement |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | Periodic RA | SHOULD NOT | SHOULD NOT |
| 3.2 | Address autoconf on router interface | MUST NOT | MUST NOT |
| 3.3 | EUI-64 MAC support on 6LoWPAN interface | MUST | MUST |
| 8.1 - 8.1.1, 8.1.5 | Multihop prefix distribution | SHOULD | MUST |
| 8.2 | Multihop DAD | SHOULD | MUST |
Table 5: Guideline for 6LBR Features in 6LoWPAN-ND