Chapter 5: Tag Switching

Chapter 5: Tag Switching

Overview

In this chapter we look at Tag Switching. We begin with an overview of the Tag Switching design goals and how it provides a variety of different functions. These include destination-based routing, hierarchy of routing knowledge, multicast, and explicit routes. Following this, we describe possible alternatives for carrying tag information in packets. Unlike the approaches described so far, Tag Switching is not restricted to running only on ATM hardware. In fact, there are some special procedures required to cover the case of ATM. We conclude this chapter with a brief overview of the main new protocol that Tag Switching requires, the Tag Distribution Protocol (TDP).

Like all the approaches described in this book, Tag Switching has its own terminology. A router that supports Tag Switching is called a Tag Switching Router (TSR). Labels are called tags (which is why the scheme is called ?Tag Switching?). Instead of incoming label we?ll use incoming tag , and instead of outgoing label we?ll use outgoing tag . A label switching forwarding table is called a Tag Forwarding Information Base (TFIB).

The material in this chapter is largely based on the publicly available documents on Tag Switching, primarily a number of Internet drafts. More details are provided in the Further Reading section at the end of this chapter.

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Switching in IP Networks: IP Switching, Tag Switching, & Related Technologies

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Chapter 5: Tag Switching

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