Automated HA Configuration for MIPv6

Abstract

Mobility support in IPv6 is an extension of IPv6 protocol. This protocol provides support for a mobile IPv6 node which relocate to another network location. It keeps connections of the mobile node operating via its home network after that change of network location. It also provides a method to allow communication directly between a mobile node and other computers on the internet and retain those connections after a move. Unfortunately, when a mobile node is not at home there are additional networking costs to establish and retain either direct or indirect connections. However when a mobile node is at its home network there are no significant extra costs. For this reason we propose the Automatic Home Agent Configuration protocol to allow a mobile node to configure each network it visits as another home network, and operate the mobile node with multiple simultaneous home network. While Mobile IP's design never required only a single home, the lack of an automated method to configure home agents has caused that to be a practical requirement. This new protocol overcomes that problem, and allows the costs of using Mobile IP to be reduced.