Network Working Group                                    S. Previdi, Ed.
Internet-Draft                                          C. Filsfils, Ed.
Intended status: Informational                       Cisco Systems, Inc.
Expires: June 16, 2016                                       B. Decraene
                                                            S. Litkowski
                                                                  Orange
                                                            M. Horneffer
                                                        Deutsche Telekom
                                                               R. Shakir
                                                     Jive Communications
                                                       December 14, 2015


               SPRING Problem Statement and Requirements
                 draft-ietf-spring-problem-statement-06

Abstract

   The ability for a node to specify a forwarding path, other than the
   normal shortest path, that a particular packet will traverse,
   benefits a number of network functions.  Source-based routing
   mechanisms have previously been specified for network protocols, but
   have not seen widespread adoption.  In this context, the term
   'source' means 'the point at which the explicit route is imposed' and
   therefore it is not limited to the originator of the packet (i.e.:
   the node imposing the explicit route may be the ingress node of an
   operator's network).

   This document outlines various use cases, with their requirements,
   that need to be taken into account by the Source Packet Routing in
   Networking (SPRING) architecture for unicast traffic.  Multicast use-
   cases and requirements are out of scope of this document.

Requirements Language

   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