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Date:      Sun, 12 May 2013 13:03:04 +0200 (CEST)
From:      sthaug@nethelp.no
To:        jinmei@isc.org
Cc:        rkoberman@gmail.com, freebsd-net@freebsd.org, jason@b0rken.org
Subject:   Re: IPv6 tunnel MTU of 1480 not effective
Message-ID:  <20130512.130304.74693108.sthaug@nethelp.no>
In-Reply-To: <m2a9o063ds.wl%jinmei@isc.org>
References:  <20130509.110631.74720486.sthaug@nethelp.no> <CAN6yY1seGF8AP0%2BstgUaMUFBxvM9eAx5s1WgBLcpxE21pTFtTg@mail.gmail.com> <m2a9o063ds.wl%jinmei@isc.org>

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> > > > However I'm only able to send IPv6 packets from my host that fit an MTU
> > > > of 1280 even though I've set the tunnel interface and per-route MTU to
> > > > 1480, based on the "outer" ethernet connection having an MTU of 1500.
> > > > Hurricane Electric supports this and I've set the MTU to 1480 on their
> > > > side as well.
> [...]
> > I complained about this at least a couple of years ago and was told by the
> > developer (I don't recall exactly who any more) that it was right and would
> > not be changed. I really would love to see this reconsidered before IPv6
> > becomes much more popular as it will simply cause confusion, but I, too,
> > fear that it is a lost cause.
> 
> What's "this" (to reconsider)?  That ping6 fragments outgoing packets
> at 1280 octets (by default)?  Or, more in general whether any outgoing
> IPv6 packet can initially honor the interface MTU?

What I want to happen is: When I use ping6 *and explicitly specify a
packet size using the -s option*, I want the interface MTU to be
honored. I don't want to have to specify -m as a sort of extra "yes,
I really really mean it".

This is, in my opinion, by far the least surprising behavior for the
user - and would then work the same as the IPv4 ping command.

It looks like an extremely simple change to make in the ping6.c file.

(Long term, I would like ping and ping6 to become *one* program with
default IPv4 or IPv6 based on the destination specified, and options
-4 / -6 like telnet has. Same for traceroute / traceroute6. However,
this is an aside.)

Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug@nethelp.no



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