RFC 3443 (rfc3443) - Page 1 of 10
Time To Live (TTL) Processing in Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Networks
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group P. Agarwal
Request for Comments: 3443 Brocade
Updates: 3032 B. Akyol
Category: Standards Track Cisco Systems
January 2003
Time To Live (TTL) Processing in
Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Networks
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document describes Time To Live (TTL) processing in hierarchical
Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks and is motivated by
the need to formalize a TTL-transparent mode of operation for an MPLS
label-switched path. It updates RFC 3032, "MPLS Label Stack
Encoding". TTL processing in both Pipe and Uniform Model
hierarchical tunnels are specified with examples for both "push" and
"pop" cases. The document also complements RFC 3270, "MPLS Support
of Differentiated Services" and ties together the terminology
introduced in that document with TTL processing in hierarchical MPLS
networks.
Conventions used in this document
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC-2119].
1. Introduction and Motivation
This document describes Time To Live (TTL) processing in hierarchical
MPLS networks. We believe that this document adds details that have
not been addressed in [MPLS-ARCH, MPLS-ENCAPS], and that the methods
presented in this document complement [MPLS-DS].
Agarwal & Akyol Standards Track
