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version 1.29, 2004/02/13 07:14:51 version 1.30, 2004/03/24 07:38:36
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 <p>  <p>
 <h3>  <h3>
 <ul>  <ul>
   <li><a href="#35">3.5: "CARP License" and "Redundancy must be free"</a>
 <li><a href="#34">3.4: "The Legend of Puffy Hood"</a>  <li><a href="#34">3.4: "The Legend of Puffy Hood"</a>
 <li><a href="#33">3.3: "Puff the Barbarian"</a>  <li><a href="#33">3.3: "Puff the Barbarian"</a>
 <li><a href="#32">3.2: "Goldflipper"</a>  <li><a href="#32">3.2: "Goldflipper"</a>
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 </ul>  </ul>
 </h3>  </h3>
 <p>  <p>
   
   <hr>
   <a name=35></a>
   <h2><font color="#00b000">3.5: "CARP License" and "Redundancy must be free"</font></h2>
   <table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 width="100%">
   <tr>
   <td valign="top" width="28%">
   OpenBSD 3.5 CD2 track 2 is an<br>
   uncompressed copy of this skit & song.<br>
   <a href="ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/songs/song35.mp3">MP3 version of song (3.5 minutes, 7.0MB)</a><br>
   <a href="ftp://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/songs/song35.ogg">OGG version of song (3.5 minutes, 5.1MB)</a><br>
   <br>
   <br>
   <a href="images/Carp.gif"><img alt="CARP" src="images/Carp.gif"></a>
   <br>
   <br>
   <em>
   A common theme used by the comedy crew Monty Python was to emphasize
   and exaggerate ridiculousnesses that their target had imposed upon
   themselves.  Few things could be considered as humorous as making a
   redundancy protocol... redundant; e.g. being forced to replace it by
   Cisco lawyers and IETF policy.
   <p>
   We've been working a few years now on our packet filtering software
   <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pf&amp;sektion=4">pf(4)</a>
   and it became time to add failover.  We want to be able to set up pf
   firewalls side by side, and exchange the stateful information between
   them, so that in case of failure another could take over 'keep state'
   sessions.  Our
   <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pfsync&amp;sektion=4">pfsync(4)</a>
   protocol solves this problem.  However, on both sides of the firewall,
   it is also necessary to have all the regular hosts not see a
   network failure.  The only reliable way to do this is for both
   firewall machines to have and use the same IP and MAC addresses.  But
   the only real way to do that is to use multicast protocols.
   <p>
   The IETF community proposed work in this direction in the late
   90's, however in 1997 Cisco informed them that they believed some of
   Cisco's patents covered the proposed IETF VRRP (Virtual Router
   Redundancy Protocol); on
   <a href="http://www.ietf.org/ietf/IPR/VRRP-CISCO">
   March 20, 1998 they went further and specifically named their HSRP
   "Hot Standby Router Protocol" patent</a>.  Reputedly, they were upset
   that IETF had not simply adopted the flawed HSRP protocol as the
   standard solution for this problem.  Despite this legal pressure, the
   IETF community forged ahead and published VRRP as a standard even
   though there was a patent in the space.  Why?
   <a href="http://www.cs-ipv6.lancs.ac.uk/ipv6/documents/standards/general-comms/ietf/vrrp/vrrp-minutes-97dec.txt">
   There was much deliberation</a>
   at all levels of the IETF, and unfortunately for all of us the
   politicians within eventually decided to allow patented technology in
   standards -- as long as the patented technology is licensed under RAND
   (Reasonable And Non Discriminatory) terms.  As free software
   programmers, we therefore find ourselves in the position that these
   RAND standards must not be implemented by us, and we must deviate from
   the standard.  We find all this rather Unreasonable and Discriminatory
   and we *will* design competing protocols.  Some standards organization,
   eh?
   <p>
   Due to some HSRP flaws fixed by VRRP and for compatibility with the
   (HSRP-licensed) VRRP implementations of their competitors, Cisco in
   recent times has largely abandoned HSRP and now relies on VRRP instead
   -- a protocol designed for and by the community, but for which they
   claim patent rights.
   <p>
   On August 7 2002, after many communications, Robert Barr (Cisco's
   lawyer) firmly informed the OpenBSD community that Cisco would defend
   its patents for VRRP implementations -- meaning basically that it was
   impossible for a free software group to produce a truly free
   implementation of the IETF standard protocol.  Perhaps this is because
   Cisco and Alcatel are currently engaged in a pair of patent lawsuits; a
   small piece of which is Cisco attempting to use the HSRP patent
   against Alcatel for their use of VRRP.  Some IETF working group
   members took note of our complaints,
   <a href="http://lists.microshaft.org/pipermail/dmca_discuss/2003-April/004702.html">
   however an attempt in April 2003 to have the IETF abandon the use of
   patented technology failed to "reach consensus" in the IETF</a>.
   <p>
   A few years ago, the W3C, who designs our web protocols, tried to move
   to a RAND policy as well (primarily because of pressure from Microsoft
   and Apple), but the community outrage was so overpowering that they
   backed down.  Some standards groups use this policy, while others
   avoid it -- the one differentiation being the amount of corporate
   participation. In the IETF, the pro-RAND agents work for AT&T,
   Alcatel, IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, and other large companies.  Since IETF
   is an open forum, they can blend in as the populace, and vote just
   like all others, except against the community.
   <p>
   Translation: In failing to "reach consensus", the companies who
   benefit from RAND won, and the community lost again.
   <p>
   Left with little choice, we proceeded to reinvent the wheel or, more
   correctly, abandon the wheel entirely and go for a "hovercraft".  We
   designed CARP (Common Address Redundancy Protocol) to solve the same
   problem that these other protocols are designed for, but without the
   same technological basis as HSRP and VRRP.  We read the patent
   document carefully and ensured that CARP was fundamentally different.
   We also avoided many of the flaws in HSRP and VRRP (such as an inherent
   lack of security).  And since we are OpenBSD developers, we designed
   it to use cryptography.
   <p>
   The combination of
   <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pf&amp;sektion=4">pf(4)</a>,
   <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=pfsync&amp;sektion=4">pfsync(4)</a>, and
   <a href="http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query=carp&amp;sektion=4">carp(4)</a>
   has permitted us to build highly redundant firewalls.  To date, we
   have built a few networks that include as many as 4 firewalls, all
   running random reboot cycles.  As long as one firewall is alive in a
   group, traffic through them moves smoothly and correctly for all of
   our packet filter functionality.  Cisco's low end products are unable
   to do this reliably, and if they have high end products which can do
   this, you most certainly cannot afford them.
   <p>
   As a final note of course, when we petitioned IANA, the IETF body
   regulating "official" internet protocol numbers, to give us numbers
   for CARP and pfsync our request was denied.  Apparently we had failed
   to go through an official standards organization.  Consequently we
   were forced to choose a protocol number which would not conflict with
   anything else of value, and decided to place CARP at IP protocol 112.
   We also placed pfsync at an open and unused number. We informed IANA of
   these decisions, but they declined to reply.
   <p>
   This ridiculous situation then inspired one of our developers to create
   this parody of the well-known Monty Python skit and song.
   <br>
   </em>
   </td><td valign="top" width="3%">
   <br>
   </td><td valign=top width="33%">
   <br>
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Hello, I would like to buy a CARP license please.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   A what?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   A license for my network redundancy protocol, CARP.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   Well, it's free isn't it?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Exactly, the protocol's name is CARP.  CARP the redundancy protocol.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   What?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   He is an.... redundancy protocol.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   CARP is a free redundancy protocol!
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Yes, I chose it out of three, I didn't like the others,
   they were all too... encumbered.  And now I must license it!
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   You must be a looney.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   I am not a looney!  Why should I be tied with the epithet looney merely
   because I wish to protect my redundancy protocol?  I've heard tell
   that Network Associates has a pet algorithm called RSA used in IETF
   standards, and you wouldn't call them a looney; Geoworks has a claim
   on WAP, after what their lawyers do to you if you try to implement it.
   Cisco has two redundant patents, both encumbered, and Cadtrack has a
   patent on cursor movement!  So, if you're calling the large American
   companies that fork out millions of dollars for the use of XOR a
   bunch of looneys, I shall have to ask you to step outside!
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   Alright, alright, alright.  A license.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Yes.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   For a free redundancy protocol?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Yes.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   You are a looney.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Look, it allows for bleeding redundancy doesn't it? Cisco's got a
   patent for the HSRP, and I've got to get a license for me router
   VRRP.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   You don't need a license for your VRRP.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   I bleeding well do and I got one.  It can't be called VRRP without it
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   There's no such thing as a bloody VRRP license.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Yes there is!
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   Isn't!
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Is!
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   Isn't!
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   I bleeding got one, look!  What's that then?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   This is a Cisco HSRP patent document with the word "Cisco" crossed
   out and the word "IETF" written in in crayon.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   The man didn't have the right form.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   What man?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Robert Barr, the man from the redundancy detector van.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   The looney detector van, you mean.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Look, it's people like you what cause unrest.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   What redundancy detector van?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   The redundancy detector van from the Monopoly of Cizzz-coeee.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   Cizzz-coeee?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   It was spelt like that on the van.  I'm very observant!  I never seen
   so many bleeding aerials.  The man said that their equipment could
   pinpoint a failover configuration at 400 yards!  And my Cisco router,
   being such a flappy bat, was a piece of cake.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   How much did you pay for this?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Sixty quid, and twenty grand for the PIX.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   What PIX?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   The PIX I'm replacing!
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   So you're replacing your PIX with free software, and yet you want to
   license it?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   There's nothing so odd about that. I'm sure they patented this
   protocol too.  After all, the IETF had a hand in it!
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   No they didn't!
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Did!
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   Didn't!
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Did, did, did and did!
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   Oh, all right.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Spoken like a gentleman, sir.  Now, are you going to give me a CARP
   license?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   I promise you that there is no such thing.  You don't need one.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   In that case, give me a Firewall License.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   A license?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Yes.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   For your firewall?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   No.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   No?
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   No, half my firewall.  It had an accident.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Licenser:</font>
   You're off your chump.
   <br>
   <font color="#b00000">Customer:</font>
   Look, if you intend by that utilization of an obscure colloquialism
   to imply that my sanity is not up to scratch, or indeed to deny the
   semi-existence of my little half firewall, I shall have to ask you to
   listen to this!  Take it away CARP the orchestra leader!
   <br>
   <br>
   A zero... one.. A one zero one one<br>
   <br>
   VRRP, philosophically,<br>
   must ipso facto standard be<br>
   But standard it<br>
   needs to be free<br>
   vis a vis<br>
   the IETF<br>
   you see?<br>
   <br>
   But can VRRP<br>
   be said to be<br>
   or not to be<br>
   a standard, see,<br>
   when VRRP can not be free,<br>
   due to some Cisco patentry..<br>
   <br>
   Singing...<br>
   <br>
   La Dee Dee, 1, 2, 3.<br>
   VRRP ain't free.<br>
   O P E N B S D<br>
   CARP is free<br>
   <br>
   Is this wretched Cisco-eze<br>
   let through IETF to mean<br>
   my firewall must pay legal fees?<br>
   No! CARP and PF are Free!<br>
   <br>
   Fiddle dee dum,<br>
   Fiddle dee dee,<br>
   CARP and PF are free.<br>
   <br>
   1 1 2,<br>
   Tee Hee Hee,<br>
   CARP and PF are free.<br>
   <br>
   My firewall just keeps running, see,<br>
   bisected accidentally,<br>
   one summer afternoon by me.<br>
   Redundancy's good when free.<br>
   <br>
   Redundancy must be free.<br>
   Redundancy must be free.<br>
   <br>
   The End<br>
   <br>
   Under the Geddy Lee?<br>
   <br>
   No, Redundancy must be free!<br>
   <br>
   Geddy must be free.<br>
   <br>
   <br>
   </td><td valign=top width="33%">
   <img src="images/Carp_song.gif"><br>
   </td></tr></table>
   <p>
   <em>
   <font color="#00b000">"CARP License"</font> sketch:<br>
   Tony Binns as the Customer, Peter Rumpel as the Licenser.
   <br>
   <font color="#00b000">"Reduncancy must be free"</font> song:<br>
   Lead vocal by Peter Rumpel, backing vocals by Jonathan Lewis and Ty Semaka.
   Piano by Janet Lewis, acoustic guitars by Chantal Vitalis.
   Bass and Geddy Lee questioning by Jonathan Lewis.
   Lyrics by Bob Beck.<br>
   <br>
   <br>
   </em>
   
 <hr>  <hr>
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