RFC 1702 (rfc1702) - Page 1 of 4
Generic Routing Encapsulation over IPv4 networks
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group S. Hanks
Request for Comments: 1702 NetSmiths, Ltd.
Category: Informational T. Li
D. Farinacci
P. Traina
cisco Systems
October 1994
Generic Routing Encapsulation over IPv4 networks
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.
Introduction
In an earlier memo [RFC 1701], we described GRE, a mechanism for
encapsulating arbitrary packets within an arbitrary transport
protocol. This is a companion memo which describes the use of GRE
with IP. This memo addresses the case of using IP as the delivery
protocol or the payload protocol and the special case of IP as both
the delivery and payload. This memo also describes using IP
addresses and autonomous system numbers as part of a GRE source
route.
IP as a delivery protocol
GRE packets which are encapsulated within IP will use IP protocol
type 47.
IP as a payload protocol
IP packets will be encapsulated with a Protocol Type field of 0x800.
For the Address Family value of 0x800, the Routing Information field
will consist of a list of IP addresses and indicates an IP source
route. The first octet of the Routing Information field constitute a
8 bit integer offset from the start of the Source Route Entry (SRE),
called the SRE Offset. The SRE Offset indicates the first octet of
the next IP address. The SRE Length field consists of the total
length of the IP Address List in octets.
Hanks, Li, Farinacci & Traina