A first look at multipath-tcp.org : ADD_ADDR usage
The first question that we asked ourselves about the usage of Multipath TCP was whether the communicating hosts were using multiple addresses.
Since the packet trace was collected on the server that hosts the Multipath TCP implementation in the Linux kernel, we can expect that many Linux enthusiasts use it to download new versions of the code, visit the documentation, perform tests or verify that their configuration is correct. These users might run different versions of Multipath TCP in the Linux kernel or on other operating systems. Unfortunately, as of this writing, there is not enough experience with the Multipath TCP implementations to detect which operating system was used to generate specific Multipath TCP packets.
Thanks to the ADD_ADDR option, it is however possible to collect interesting data about the characteristics of the clients that contact our server. Over the 5098 observed Multipath TCP connections, 3321 of them announced at least one address. Surprisingly, only 21% of the collected IPv4 addresses in the ADD_ADDR option were globally routable address.
The remaining 79% of the IPv4 addresses found in the ADD_ADDR option were private addresses and in some cases link-local addresses. This confirms that Multipath TCP’s ability to pass through NATs is an important feature of the protocol RFC 6824.
The IPv6 addresses collected in the ADD_ADDR option had more diversity. We first observed 72% of globally routable IPv6 addresses. The other types of addresses that we observed are shown in the table below. The IPv4-compatible and the 6to4 IPv6 addresses were expected, but the link local and documentation addresses should have been filtered by the client and not be announced over Multipath TCP connections. The Multipath TCP specification RFC 6824 should be updated to specify which types of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses can be advertised over a Multipath TCP connection.
Address type Count Link-local (IPv4) 51 Link-local (IPv6) 241 Documentation only (IPv6) 21 IPv4-compatible IPv6 13 6to4 206