RFC 1932 (rfc1932) - Page 2 of 31
IP over ATM: A Framework Document
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1932 IP over ATM: A Framework Document April 1996
o Section 5 discusses tradeoffs between connection oriented and
connectionless approaches.
o Section 6 discusses the various means of providing direct
connections across IP subnet boundaries.
o Section 7 discusses the proposal to extend IP routing to better
accommodate direct connections across IP subnet boundaries.
o Section 8 identifies several prominent IP over ATM proposals that
have been discussed within the IP over ATM Working Group and
their relationship to the framework described in this document.
o Section 9 addresses the relationship between the documents
developed in the IP over ATM and related working groups and the
various models discussed.
2. Definitions and Terminology
We define several terms:
A Host or End System: A host delivers/receives IP packets to/from
other systems, but does not relay IP packets.
A Router or Intermediate System: A router delivers/receives IP
packets to/from other systems, and relays IP packets among
systems.
IP Subnet: In an IP subnet, all members of the subnet are able to
transmit packets to all other members of the subnet directly,
without forwarding by intermediate entities. No two subnet
members are considered closer in the IP topology than any other.
From an IP routing and IP forwarding standpoint a subnet is
atomic, though there may be repeaters, hubs, bridges, or switches
between the physical interfaces of subnet members.
Bridged IP Subnet: A bridged IP subnet is one in which two or
more physically disjoint media are made to appear as a single IP
subnet. There are two basic types of bridging, media access
control (MAC) level, and proxy ARP (see section 6).
A Broadcast Subnet: A broadcast network supports an arbitrary
number of hosts and routers and additionally is capable of
transmitting a single IP packet to all of these systems.
A Multicast Capable Subnet: A multicast capable subnet supports
a facility to send a packet which reaches a subset of the
destinations on the subnet. Multicast setup may be sender
Cole, Shur & Villamizar Informational