Network Working Group M. Boucadair, Ed. Internet-Draft J-L. Grimault Intended status: Informational P. Levis Expires: July 16, 2009 A. Villefranque France Telecom January 12, 2009 Behaviour of BitTorrent service in an IP Shared Address Environment draft-boucadair-behave-bittorrent-portrange-02.txt Status of this Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet- Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt. The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. This Internet-Draft will expire on July 16, 2009. Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2009 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 1] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 Abstract This memo describes the behaviour of BitTorrent service in the context of IP shared addresses. It provides an overview of the used testbed and main results of the tests that have been conducted in order to assess the limitations of an architecture based on shared IP addresses. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2. BitTorent Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.1. BitTorrent at a Glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.2. Software Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.2.1. BitTorrent Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.2.2. BitTorrent Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.2.3. BitTorrent Tracker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3. Testbed Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.1. Testbed Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.2. Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4. Description of Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4.1. Connection to Overlay Test Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4.2. Upload Test Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 4.3. Mutual Download Test Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 4.4. Simultaneous Download Test Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 5. Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 5.1. First Configuration: Multiple Connections with the same IP address are enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 5.2. Second Configuration: Multiple Connections with the same IP address are disabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 6. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 7. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 8. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 9. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 10. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 10.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 10.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 2] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 3] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 1. Introduction Recently, several proposals have been disseminated within IETF to contribute to solve the IP exhaustion problem. These solutions may be grouped into two categories: (1) Solutions which propose the introduction of a second level of NAT (Network Address Translator), denoted also as Carrier Grade NAT (CG-NAT). This node is located in the Service Provider domain. Private addresses are assigned to end-user CPEs, which still perform their own NAT. The CG-NAT is responsible for translating IP packets issued with private addresses to ones with publicly routable IPv4 addresses (especially when exiting the domain of the Service Provider). [ID.durand-softwire-dual-stack-lite] is a variant of these solutions where there is only one NAT hosted in the Service Provider's network. (2) Solutions which avoid the introduction of a NAT in the Service Provider's network. Examples of these solutions are [ID.ymbk-aplusp], [ID.boucadair-port-range], [ID.despres-sam] and [ID.bajko-v6ops-port-restricted-ipaddr-assign]. These solutions allocate the same IP public address to several customers at the same time. They also allocate a restricted port range to each customer so that two customers with the same IP address have two different port ranges that do not overlap. Both the above listed categories are based on sharing an IP address between several machines. In this context, the delivery of some services may be impacted, especially those enforcing a restriction based on the source IP address. This memo focuses on BitTorrent as an example of application which applies a restriction based on IP address. This memo describes a testing campaign that has been carried out to assess the impact of IP shared address on BitTorrent. Testing activities are conducted using a testbed which is configured according to the solution described in [ID.boucadair-port-range]. 2. BitTorent Overview 2.1. BitTorrent at a Glance BitTorrent is a distributed file sharing infrastructure. It is based on P2P (Peer to Peer) techniques for exchanging files between connected users. Three parties are involved in a BitTorrent Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 4] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 architecture as detailed hereafter: 1. The Server: The server into which, has been uploaded the torrent file. 2. The Tracker: Maintains a list of clients which have the file or some portions of that file. 3. The Client: Entities which are downloading and/or uploading portions of the file. Two categories of clients may be distinguished: A. Leechers: Clients which are currently downloading the file but do not yet detain all the portions of the file. As for the portions already obtained, the leechers upload them towards requesting clients; B. Seeders: Clients which detain all the portions of the file and are uploading them to other requesting clients. A torrent file is a file which includes the meta-data information of the file to be shared: the file name, its length, a hash and the URL of the tracker. In order to download a given file, a BitTorrent client needs to obtain the corresponding torrent file. Afterwards, it connects to the tracker to retrieve a list of leechers and seeders. Then, the client connects to those machines and downloads the available portions of the requested file. It uploads also the portions already obtained towards requesting clients. 2.2. Software Configuration This section provides an overview of installed tools. 2.2.1. BitTorrent Client Various BitTorrent clients are available for public use. The following one has been installed for the purposes of our testing activities: URL: www.bittorrent.com The installed version is 6.1. 2.2.2. BitTorrent Server The BitTorrent server that has been used is the following: URL: www.metro-torrent.com Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 5] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 2.2.3. BitTorrent Tracker The BitTorrent tracker that has been used is the following: URL: www.metro-torrent.com/announce.php 3. Testbed Overview 3.1. Testbed Description The testbed used to conduct the testing activities, described in Section 5, is the same as the one described in Section 4 of [ID.boucadair-port-range]. o The PRR (Port Range Router) is responsible to implement a port- driven routing so as to be able to route incoming traffic to the appropriate machine among those having the same IP address. o CPE-1 and CPE-2 are two CPEs to which the same IP address is assigned. In order to discriminate these CPEs, distinct Port Masks [ID.boucadair-dhc-port-range] are assigned to each of these CPE. o T1 (respectively T2) is a machine located in the LAN behind CPE-1 (respectively CPE-2). o RT1 and RT2 are remote machines reachable through Internet. +-------+ +-----+ +-----------+ +----------+ | | | | | Service | | | | T1 |----|CPE-1|-------| Provider | | | | | | | | Domain | | | +---------+ +-------+ +-----+ | | | | | Remote | 193.51.145.206 | | | +----+ Terminal| | +-----+ | | | | (RT1) | +-------+ +-----+ | | PRR | +--+ Internet | +---------+ | | | | | +-----+ | | | 193.51.145.205 | T2 |----|CPE-2|-------| | | | | | | | | | | | +-------+ +-----+ | | | | +---------+ 193.51.145.206 | | | | | Remote | | | | +----+ Terminal| | | | | | (RT2) | | | | | +---------+ | | | | 193.51.145.208 +-----------+ +----------+ Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 6] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 3.2. Files The following table lists the files available in each machine: +-----------------+-------------------------------+ | Machine' s name | Available files | +-----------------+-------------------------------+ | T1 | TestCaenF1 and TestCaenFa | | T2 | TestCaenF1 and TestCaenFb | | RT1 | TestCaenFRT1 and TestCaenFRTa | | RT2 | TestCaenFRT1 and TestCaenFRTb | +-----------------+-------------------------------+ Available files 4. Description of Tests This section lists the tests that have been conducted. 4.1. Connection to Overlay Test Group This table lists the test to assess the ability of distinct machines having the same IP address to connect to BitTorrent overlay. +--------+------------+------------------+---------------------------+ | Test | Test Title | Purpose | Description | | Index | | | | +--------+------------+------------------+---------------------------+ | Test_1 | Connection | Check if two | Check if BitTorrent | | | to | terminals, | client installed on T1 | | | BitTorrent | having the same | and T2 machines are able | | | Overlay | public IP | to use the same tracker | | | | address, are | and that no problems are | | | | able to connect | experienced to use the | | | | to BitTorrent | same tracker by T1 and | | | | overlay network | T2. | +--------+------------+------------------+---------------------------+ Connecting to Overlay Test Group 4.2. Upload Test Group This test group aims at checking if upload operations are not impacted/restricted due to the presence of several machines with the same IP address. Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 7] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 +--------+------------+---------------+--------------------------------+ | Test | Test Title | Purpose | Description | | Index | | | | +--------+------------+---------------+--------------------------------+ | Test_2 | Uploading | Check if two | Check if torrent files may be | | | distinct | terminals, | uploaded from T1 and T2 using | | | files | having the | the same tracker. On T1 | | | using the | same public | (resp. T2), generate a torrent | | | same | IP address, | file TestCaenFa.torrent (resp. | | | BitTorrent | are able to | TestCaenFb.torrent) referring | | | tracker | upload | to the file TestCaenFa (resp. | | | and server | torrent files | TestCaenFb) and pointing to | | | | (referring to | the tracker TRA. From T1 | | | | distinct | (resp. T2) try to put | | | | files) using | TestCaenFa.torrent (resp. | | | | the same | TestCaenFb.torrent) onto | | | | tracker and | server S. Check if the upload | | | | same server | operation has succeeded | | Test_3 | Uploading | Check if two | On T1 (resp. T2), generate a | | | torrent | terminals, | torrent file | | | files | having the | TestCaenF1.torrent (resp. | | | referring | same public | TestCaenF1.torrent) referring | | | to the | IP address, | to the file TestCaenF1 and | | | same file | are able to | pointing to the tracker TRA. | | | | upload | From T1 (resp. T2) try to put | | | | torrent | TestCaenF1.torrent (resp. | | | | files, which | TestCaenF1.torrent) onto | | | | refer to the | server S. Check if the upload | | | | same file, | operation has succeeded | | | | using the | | | | | same tracker | | +--------+------------+---------------+--------------------------------+ Upload Test Group 4.3. Mutual Download Test Group The purpose of this test group is to check if mutual downloading operations can occur between machines having the same IP address. Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 8] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 +--------+-------------+-----------+--------------------------------+ | Test | Test Title | Purpose | Description | | Index | | | | +--------+-------------+-----------+--------------------------------+ | Test_4 | Mutual | Check if | Check if T1 can download the | | | Downloading | two | file uploaded by T2 (ref. | | | between | terminals | Test_2) and vice versa. Three | | | machines | having | scenarios are to be tested: | | | sharing the | the same | (1) T1 downloads TestCaenFb | | | same IP | public IP | but T2 does not download any | | | address | address | file from T1, (2) T2 downloads | | | | can | TestCaenFa but T1 does not | | | | download | download any file from T2, (3) | | | | a file | T1 downloads TestCaenFb and T2 | | | | from each | downloads TestCaenFa at the | | | | another | same time | +--------+-------------+-----------+--------------------------------+ Mutual Download Test Group 4.4. Simultaneous Download Test Group This test group aims at checking if simultaneous downloading operations from remote seed(s)/leecher(s) can be performed by several machines sharing the same IP address. +---------+--------------+----------------+-------------------------+ | Test | Test Title | Purpose | Description | | Index | | | | +---------+--------------+----------------+-------------------------+ | Test_5 | Downloading | Check if two | Check if distinct files | | | distinct | terminals, | available on BitTorrent | | | files | having the | infrastructure may be | | | | same public IP | downloaded by T1 and T2 | | | | address, are | simultaneously | | | | able to | | | | | download | | | | | distinct files | | | | | available on | | | | | BitTorrent | | | | | infrastructure | | Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 9] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 | Test_6 | Downloading | Check if two | Check if a file | | | the same | terminals, | available on several | | | file located | having the | seeders may be | | | on several | same public IP | downloaded from T1 and | | | seeders | address, are | T2 simultaneously. As | | | | able to | an example, check if T1 | | | | download the | and T2 can download the | | | | same file | same file located in | | | | located on | RT1 and RT2 (referred | | | | several | to as TestCaenFRT1) | | | | seeders | | | Test_7 | Download the | Check if two | Check if T1 and T2 can | | | same file | terminals | download the same file | | | available on | having the | uploaded by RT1 | | | a single | same public IP | (referred to as | | | machine | address are | TestCaenFRTa) | | | | able to | concurrently. In case | | | | download, at | the test fails, one of | | | | the same time, | the two host is called | | | | the same file | the "waiting client" | | | | available on a | | | | | single seed | | Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 10] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 | Test_8 | Simultaneous | Check if it is | In case Test_7 fails, | | | downloading | not precluded | check that it is not | | | from the | that a | precluded that a | | | same seeder | different file | different file can be | | | | can be | downloaded by the | | | | downloaded by | waiting client (T1 or | | | | the waiting | T2) from the same | | | | client from | seeder (RT1) at the | | | | the same | same time the other | | | | seeder | terminal (respectively | | | | | T2 or T1) is | | | | | downloading | | | | | TestCaenFRTa. Execute | | | | | Test_7 in launching on | | | | | T1 the downloading of | | | | | TestCaenFRT1 and just | | | | | few seconds afterwards | | | | | in launching on T2 the | | | | | downloading of | | | | | TestCaenFRT1 and | | | | | TestCaenFRTa. Check | | | | | that while T1 is | | | | | downloading | | | | | TestCaenFRT1 that does | | | | | not preclude T2 to | | | | | concurrently download | | | | | TestCaenFRTa. | | Test_9 | Downloading | Check if the | Check if T1 | | | distinct | two terminals | (respectively T2) can | | | files from | having the | download files uploaded | | | the same | same public IP | by RT1 (referred to as | | | seeder | address are | TestCaenRF1 and | | | | able to | TestCaenFRTa) | | | | download at | concurrently. | | | | the same time | Particularly, check if | | | | two distinct | T1 can download | | | | files from the | TestCaenFRT1 and T2 can | | | | same seeder | download TestCaenFRTa | | | | | simultaneously | | Test_10 | Download the | Check if the | in RT1, launch the | | | same file | same file can | downloading of | | | located on | be downloaded | TestCaenF1. Check that | | | machines | by a given | RT1 is downloading | | | having the | machine from | portions of TestCaenF1 | | | same IP | seeders having | at the same time from | | | address | the same IP | T1 and T2 | | | | address | | Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 11] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 | Test_11 | Automatic | Check if the | In case Test_7 fails, | | | query to | terminal which | check that the terminal | | | download the | was waiting | which was waiting can | | | same file | can finally | finally download the | | | available on | download the | file once the other | | | a single | file once the | terminal has finished | | | machine | other terminal | | | | | has finished | | | Test_12 | Download | Check if | Check if RT1 can | | | distinct | distinct files | download simultaneously | | | files from | can be | TestCaenFa (from T1) | | | two machines | downloaded by | and TestCaenFb (from | | | having the | the same | T2) | | | same IP | machine from | | | | address | seeders having | | | | | the same IP | | | | | address | | +---------+--------------+----------------+-------------------------+ Simultaneous Download Test Group 5. Results BitTorrent client can be configured to accept multiple connections using the same IP address. A dedicated parameter can therefore be positioned. This parameter is called: bt.allow_same_ip. Possible values that can be taken by this parameter are: FALSE (0) or TRUE (1). For the testing activities, two configurations have been tested: 1. First Configuration: bt.allow_same_ip == TRUE 2. Second Configuration: bt.allow_same_ip == FALSE The following sub-sections describe the obtained results for each configuration. 5.1. First Configuration: Multiple Connections with the same IP address are enabled The following table summarises the results of the aforementioned tests as performed using the testbed described in Section 4. Note that bt.allow_same_ip is positioned to TRUE. Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 12] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 +------------+--------------------------------------+---------------+ | Test | Results | Comments | | Identifier | | | +------------+--------------------------------------+---------------+ | Test_1 | No problems have been experienced | None | | Test_2 | Both T1 and T2 are able to upload | None | | | distinct torrent files using the | | | | same tracker and the same server | | | Test_3 | Only one machine can upload a | The server | | | torrent file referring to the same | ensures that | | | file | only one | | | | single | | | | torrent file | | | | corresponding | | | | to the same | | | | file is | | | | listed in its | | | | base | | Test_4 | Three scenarios have been tested: | None | | | (1) T1 downloads TestCaenFb but T2 | | | | does not download any file from T1 | | | | (2) T2 downloads TestCaenFa but T1 | | | | does not download any file from T2 | | | | (3) T1 downloads TestCaenFb and T2 | | | | downloads TestCaenFa in the same | | | | time. For all these scenarios, no | | | | problems have been encountered. The | | | | downloading operations have | | | | succeeded | | | Test_5 | Both T1 and T2 are able to download | None | | | distinct files from the BitTorrent | | | | infrastructure | | | Test_6 | Both T1 and T2 are able to download | None | | | the same file located in several | | | | seeders. No particular problem has | | | | been encountered | | | Test_7 | No problem has been encountered. | None | | | Both T1 and T2 are able to download | | | | TestCaenFRTa from RT1 | | | | simultaneously. Note that at the | | | | same time, mutual downloading by T1 | | | | of portions of TestCaenFRTa already | | | | downloaded by T2 (and vice versa) | | | | have been noticed | | | Test_8 | Not applicable | None | Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 13] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 | Test_9 | No problem has been encountered. | None | | | Distinct files located in RT1 have | | | | been successfully downloaded by T1 | | | | (respectively T2) | | | Test_10 | No problem has been encountered | None | | Test_11 | Not applicable | Not | | | | applicable | | Test_12 | No problem has been encountered. | None | | | RT1 has succeeded to download | | | | simultaneously TestCaenFa (from T1) | | | | and TestCaenFb (from T2) | | +------------+--------------------------------------+---------------+ First Configuration Obtained Results 5.2. Second Configuration: Multiple Connections with the same IP address are disabled The following table summarises the results of the aforementioned tests as performed using the testbed described in Section 4. Note that bt.allow_same_ip is positioned to FALSE. +------------+-----------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Test | Results | Comments | | Identifier | | | +------------+-----------------------+-----------------------------------+ | Test_1 | No problems have been | None | | | experienced | | | Test_2 | Both T1 and T2 are | None | | | able to upload | | | | distinct torrent | | | | files using the same | | | | tracker and the same | | | | server | | | Test_3 | Only one machine can | The server ensures that only one | | | upload a torrent file | single torrent file corresponding | | | referring to the same | to the same file is listed in its | | | file | base | Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 14] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 | Test_4 | Three scenarios have | None | | | been tested: (1) T1 | | | | downloads TestCaenFb | | | | but T2 does not | | | | download any file | | | | from T1 (2) T2 | | | | downloads TestCaenFa | | | | but T1 does not | | | | download any file | | | | from T2 (3) T1 | | | | downloads TestCaenFb | | | | and T2 downloads | | | | TestCaenFa in the | | | | same time. For all | | | | these scenarios, no | | | | problems have been | | | | encountered. The | | | | downloading | | | | operations have | | | | succeeded | | | Test_5 | Both T1 and T2 are | None | | | able to download | | | | distinct files from | | | | the BitTorrent | | | | infrastructure | | | Test_6 | Both T1 and T2 are | When TestCaenFRT1 is used as | | | able to download the | example. T1 and T2 are able to | | | same file located in | download the same file. But for | | | several seeders. No | each file it is sending (here | | | particular problem | TestCaenFRT1) RT1 can allow no | | | has been encountered | more than one unique connection | | | | to the same address IP. This is | | | | the same behaviour for RT2. T1 | | | | and T2 exchanges the portions of | | | | the files they stored | Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 15] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 | Test_7 | Both T1 and T2 are | This is because for each file it | | | able to download the | is sending (here TestCaenFRTa) | | | file but only one | RT1 can allow no more than one | | | single connection is | unique connection to the same | | | accepted by RT1 at | address IP. The result is that, | | | the same time | once T1 (or T2) has begun to | | | | download TestCaenFRTa, the other | | | | terminal (T2 or respectively T1) | | | | cannot get any portion of | | | | TestCaenFRTa directly from RT1 | | | | till the other (T1 or | | | | respectively T2) has completed | | | | the downloading of TestCaenFRTa. | | | | However, that does not preclude | | | | the waiting terminal (T2 or T1) | | | | to download from the other | | | | terminal (T1 or T2) portions of | | | | TestCaenFRTa already downloaded | | | | from RT1 | | Test_8 | The test 8 has | While T1 has been downloading | | | succeeded | TestCaenFRT1 from RT1, T2 could | | | | download TestCaenFRTa from RT1 | | | | and in addition it can get | | | | portions of TestCaenFRTa already | | | | downloaded by T1 | | Test_9 | No problem have been | None | | | experienced | | | Test_10 | Both T1 and T2 are | The test failed because, once RT1 | | | able to upload the | has begun to download portions of | | | file, but only one | TestCaenF1 from T1 (respectively | | | connection is | T2) it cannot accept additional | | | accepted by RT1 at | connection with T2 for the same | | | the same time | file | | Test_11 | The test succeeded | Once T1 has completed its | | | | downloading from RT1, T2 has been | | | | able automatically to connect to | | | | RT1 for receiving the portions of | | | | TestCaenFRTa it has not already | | | | got from T2 | | Test_12 | No problem has been | None | | | encountered. RT1 has | | | | succeeded to download | | | | simultaneously | | | | TestCaenFa (from T1) | | | | and TestCaenFb (from | | | | T2) | | +------------+-----------------------+-----------------------------------+ Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 16] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 Results: Multiple connections desiabled 6. Conclusions This memo describes the main behaviour of BitTorrent service in an IP shared address environment. Particularly, the tests have been carried out on a testbed implementing [ID.boucadair-port-range] solution. The results are, however, valid for all IP shared address based solutions. Two limitations were experienced. The first limitation occurs when two clients sharing the same IP address want to simultaneously retrieve the SAME file located in a SINGLE remote peer. This limitation is due to the default BitTorrent configuration on the remote peer which does not permit sending the same file to multiple ports of the same IP address. This limitation is mitigated by the fact that clients sharing the same IP address can exchange portions with each other, provided the clients can find each other through a common tracker, DHT, or Peer Exchange. Even if they can not, we observed that the remote peer would begin serving portions of the file automatically as soon as the other client (sharing the same IP address) finished downloading. This limitation is eliminated if the remote peer is configured with bt.allow_same_ip == TRUE. The second limitation occurs when a client tries to download a file located on several seeders, when those seeders share the same IP address. This is because the clients are enforcing bt.allow_same_ip parameter to FALSE. The client will only be able to connect to one seeder, among those having the same IP address, to download the file (note that the client can retrieve the file from other seeders having distinct IP addresses). This limitation is eliminated if the local client is configured with bt.allow_same_ip == TRUE, which is somewhat likely as those clients will directly experience better throughput by changing their own configuration. Mutual file sharing between hosts having the same IP address has been checked. Indeed, machines having the same IP address can share files with no alteration compared to current IP architectures. 7. IANA Considerations This document raises no IANA considerations. Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 17] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 8. Security Considerations This memo does not introduce any security issue. 9. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Dan WING for suggesting the writing of this memo and for the review of the text. 10. References 10.1. Normative References [RFC2026] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996. [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. 10.2. Informative References [ID.bajko-v6ops-port-restricted-ipaddr-assign] Bajko, G. and T. Savolainen, "Port Restricted IP Address Assignment", Internet Draft, draft-bajko-v6ops-port- restricted-ipaddr-assign-02.txt (work in progress), November 2008. [ID.boucadair-dhc-port-range] Boucadair, M., Grimault, J-L., Levis, P., and A. Villefranque, "DHCP Options for Conveying Port Mask and Port Range Router IP Address", Internet Draft, draft-boucadair-dhc-port-range-01.txt (work in progress), October 2008. [ID.boucadair-port-range] Boucadair, M., Grimault, J-L., Levis, P., and A. Villefranque, "Provider-Provisioned CPE: IPv4 Connectivity Access in the context of IPv4 address exhaustion", Internet Draft, draft-boucadair-port-range-00.txt (work in progress), October 2008. [ID.despres-sam] Despres, R., "Stateless Address Mappings (SAMs) IPv6 & extended IPv4 via local routing domains - possibly multihomed", Internet Draft, draft-despres-sam-01.txt (work in progress), November 2008. Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 18] Internet-Draft Port Range BitTorrent January 2009 [ID.durand-softwire-dual-stack-lite] Durand , A., Droms, R., Haberman, B., and J. Woodyatt, "Dual-stack lite broadband deployments post IPv4 exhaustion", Internet Draft, draft-durand-softwire-dual-stack-lite-01.txt (work in progress), November 2008. [ID.ymbk-aplusp] Maennel , O., Bush, R., Cittadini, L., and S. Bellovin , "The A+P Approach to the Broadband Provider IPv4 Address Shortage", Internet Draft, draft-ymbk-aplusp-01.txt (work in progress), November 2008. Authors' Addresses Mohamed Boucadair (editor) France Telecom 42 rue des Coutures BP 6243 Caen Cedex 4 14066 France Email: mohamed.boucadair@orange-ftgroup.com Jean-Luc Grimault France Telecom Email: jeanluc.grimault@orange-ftgroup.com Pierre Levis France Telecom Email: pierre.levis@orange-ftgroup.com Alain Villefranque France Telecom Email: alain.villefranque@orange-ftgroup.com Boucadair, et al. Expires July 16, 2009 [Page 19]