The Next SPRING Forward: How do we successfully evolve today's IP/MPLS Networks?

Over the last 4 years, work has been done in the IETF to introduce a new mechanism for source-based routing to MPLS. Segment Routing (being standardised in the SPRING working group of the IETF) uses stacks of MPLS labels to encode a path through the network as a set of forwarding resources. This lecture covers an introduction to MPLS, looks at the architecture of today's networks using RSVP-TE, and analyses RSVP-TE's success in the context of RFC5218 - a set of observations as to what makes for successful protocols. With this background, Segment Routing is introduced, and compared to RSVP-TE, concluding with some observations as to its potential success as a new source routing approach within modern networks.

• Networking