Mobile IP
Agenda
• What is Mobile IP?
• Mobile IP Architecture
• Why Mobile IP?
• How Mobile IP Works
• Registration Message Format
• Tunneling in Mobile IP
• Mobile IP in Action
• Security in Mobile IP
• Mobile in IPv6
• Conclusion
What is Mobile IP
Definition:
• Mobile IP is a standard communication protocol, defined to allow
mobile device users to move from one IP network to another while
maintaining their permanent IP address
• Mobile IP protocol allows for location-independent routing of IP
datagrams on the Internet.
• Mobile IP is an open standard, defined by the Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF) that allows users to keep the same IP address, stay
connected, and maintain ongoing applications while roaming between
IP networks.
N.B-IP addresses are designed to work with stationary hosts
because part of the address defines the network to which
the host is attached.
Components of Mobile IP
• The Mobile Node is a device such as a cell phone, personal digital
assistant, or laptop whose software enables network roaming
capabilities.
• The Home Agent is a router on the home network serving as the
anchor point for communication with the Mobile Node; it tunnels
packets from a device on the Internet, called a Correspondent
Node, to the roaming Mobile Node. (A tunnel is established
between the Home Agent and a reachable point for the Mobile
Node in the foreign network.)
• The Foreign Agent is a router that may function as the point of
attachment for the Mobile Node when it roams to a foreign
network, delivering packets from the Home Agent to the Mobile
Node.
Agents
• To make the change of address transparent
to the rest of the Internet requires a home
agent and a foreign agent.
Addresses
Mobile IP has two addresses for a mobile host:
one home address and one care-of address.
• A home address is assigned to node in Home Network.
• a care-of address (CoA) is a temporary IP address for a mobile
device. This allows a home agent to forward messages to the
mobile device.
N.B-The home address is permanent; the care-of address
changes as the mobile host moves from one
network to another.
Mobile IP Architecture
Correspondent node (CN)
Home Agent (HA) Remote Agent (RA) Mobile node (MN)
• Mobile Node (MN) - A Node moving to different network, with permanent Home Address.
• Home Agent (HA) - A router on a mobile node's home network which tunnels datagrams for delivery to the mobile node when it is
away from home, and maintains current location information for the mobile node.
• Home Address - The static fixed IP Address allocated to a mobile node by Home Agent.
• Home Network - A network, having a network prefix/network [Link] that of a mobile node's home address
• Foriegn Network - A network other than a Mobile node’s home network.
• Foreign Agent - Router in foreign network that provides CoA and tunneling with HA and forward the packets to MN.
• Care-of Address - Termination point of a tunnel toward a MN in the foreign netwrok.
• Mobility Binding - The association of a home address with a care-of address (CoA).
• Correspondent Node (CN) - A peer node with which a Mobile node is communicating.
Mobile IP Scenario
Working of Mobile IP
When IP datagrams are exchanged over a connection between the mobile node (A) and
another host (server X in Figure 1), the following operations occur:
[Link] X transmits an IP datagram destined for mobile node A, with A’s home address in
the IP header. The IP datagram is routed to A’s home network.
[Link] the home network, the incoming IP datagram is intercepted by the home agent. The
home agent encapsulates the entire datagram inside a new IP datagram, which has the
A’s care-of address in the header, and retransmits the datagram. The use of an outer IP
datagram with a different destination IP address is known as tunneling.
[Link] foreign agent strips off the o uter IP header, encapsulates the original IP datagram in
a network-level Protocol Data Unit (PDU) and delivers the original datagram to A across
the foreign network.
[Link] A sends IP traffic to X, it uses X’s IP address. In our example, this is a fixed
address; that is, X is not a mobile node. Each IP datagram is sent by A to a router on the
foreign network for routing to X. Typically, this router is also the foreign agent.
[Link] IP datagram from A to X travels directly across the Internet to X, using X’s IP
address.
Mobile IP Operations
Discovery:
A mobile node uses a discovery procedure to identify prospective home agents
and foreign agents.
Registration:
A mobile node uses an authenticated registration procedure to inform its home
agent of its care-of address.
Tunneling:
Tunneling is used to forward IP datagrams from a home address to a care-of
address.
Agent Discovery
•To find a FA after MN movement
•Two methods are used
[Link] Advertisement
• FA and HA periodically advertise heir presence using agent
advertisement message.
• Advertisement messages are beacon broadcasts to subnets.
• For advertisement ICMP messages are used
• Fields of ICMP messages are-code, type, addresses, length, sequence
number, lifetime
2. Agent Solicitation
• Adopted in case of failure of advertisement procedure due to high
communication overhead.
• MN searches for an FA endlessly for sending out solicitation
messages.
Registration
•After receiving COA, MN has to register with HA
•The purpose is to inform HA about its current location.
•Registration can be done in two ways.
1. MN sends its registration request containing COA to FA which is
subsequently forwarded to HA. HA performs mobility binding by
taking MN’s home IP address and current COA.
2. MN may send request directly to HA and vice versa.
•UDP packets are used for registration requests.
How Mobile IP works
FA
Registration
1. Registration Request by MN to FA
2
2. FA Relays Registration request to HA 1
4 3
3. HA sends Registration reply to FA
4. FA Relays Registration reply to MN
HA
MN
Mobility Binding Table
Registration message format
Register request Register response
Tunneling and Encapsulation
• Tunneling describes the mechanism used for forwarding packets between HA
and COA.
• A tunnel establishes a virtual pipe for sending data packets
• Packets entering a tunnel are forwarded inside the tunnel and leave the tunnel
unchanged.
• Tunneling is achieved using encapsulation
• Encapsulation is the mechanism of taking a packet consisting of packet
header and data and putting it into new packet by adding a new header.
• IP in IP encapsulation is the common encapsulation technique used.
• IP in IP is an IP tunnelingIP in IP is an IP tunneling protocol that encapsulates
one IP packet in another IP packet. To encapsulate an IP packet in another IP
packet, an outer header is added with SourceIP, the entry point of the tunnel
and the Destination point, the exit point of the tunnel. While doing this, the
inner packet is unmodified
Tunneling in Mobile IP
CN sends packets to HA
Correspondent node (CN)
Home Agent (HA) IP-in-IP or GRE tunnel
between HA and FA
HA tunnels the
Packet and sends to FA
MN moves to FA Foreign Agent(FA)
FA extracts original
Packet and sends to the MN
Mobile Node (MN)
Tunneling in Mobile IP(Cont.)
• When CN sends the data to MN, it uses the original address of the MN, so the
packet goes to HA.
• From the mobility binding HA encapsulates the packet (IP-in-IP or GRE) and
sends to CoA.
• The FA de-capsulate the packet and extracts the original packet that was sent
by the CN.
• The FA then sends this packet to the MN using the Home address destination.
• The reverse route from MN to CN may or may not follow this path.
Triangle routing – Reply packets are sent directly to CN from MN
Reverse Tunneling – Reply packet are tunneled to HA by FA.
Mobile IP in Action
CN is successfully
Mobility Binding communicating
table with MN via HA
Correspondent node (CN)
Home Address Care-of-Address
A B
Mobile node (MN)
HA Looks binding table
Home Address = A
Home Agent (HA)
1. MN sends Registration request with its new CoA
2. Mobile binding created for MN with new CoA
3. MN sends Registration response, after validating request and
Remote Agent (RA)
updating binding table
4. Packets sent to MN from CN are tunneled to RA using binding table
CoA = B
Mobile Node moves to remote network
Conclusion
• Mobile IP plays important role in future with advanced mobile computing
devices ( 3G phones, Wi-Fi and WiMAX nodes etc)
• Mobility vs. security will always be a trade off
• Security is provided with IPSec and AAA services
• Problem of QoS with Mobile IP need to be addressed
• Standard is driven by IETF , which helps in faster deployment without
much interoperability issues.
References
1. IP Mobility Support for IPv4; RFC 3344, Perkins, Charlie;
[Link]
2. Wikipedia : [Link]
3. Mobility Support in IPv6; RFC 3775; [Link]
4. TCP/IP Tutorial and Technical Overview, IBM Redbooks
5. [Link]
[Link]
6. [Link]
Thank You