RFC 2105 (rfc2105) - Page 1 of 13

Cisco Systems' Tag Switching Architecture Overview

Network Working Group                                         Y. Rekhter
Request for Comments: 2105                                      B. Davie
Category: Informational                                          D. Katz
                                                                E. Rosen
                                                              G. Swallow
                                                     Cisco Systems, Inc.
                                                           February 1997


           Cisco Systems' Tag Switching Architecture Overview

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  This memo
   does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
   this memo is unlimited.

IESG Note:

   This protocol is NOT the product of an IETF working group nor is it a
   standards track document.  It has not necessarily benefited from the
   widespread and in depth community review that standards track
   documents receive.

Abstract

   This document provides an overview of a novel approach to network
   layer packet forwarding, called tag switching. The two main
   components of  the tag switching architecture - forwarding and
   control - are described.  Forwarding is accomplished using simple
   label-swapping techniques, while the existing network layer routing
   protocols plus mechanisms for binding and distributing tags are used
   for control. Tag switching can retain the scaling properties of IP,
   and can help improve the scalability of IP networks. While tag
   switching does not rely on ATM, it can straightforwardly be applied
   to ATM switches. A range of tag switching applications and deployment
   scenarios are described.

Table of Contents

   1      Introduction  ...........................................   2
   2      Tag Switching components  ...............................   3
   3      Forwarding component  ...................................   3
   3.1    Tag encapsulation  ......................................   4
   4      Control component  ......................................   4
   4.1    Destination-based routing  ..............................   5
   4.2    Hierarchy of routing knowledge  .........................   7
   4.3    Multicast  ..............................................   8



Rekhter, et. al.             Informational