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RFC 5462 - Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) Label Stack Entry: "EXP" Field Renamed to "Traffic Class" Field

  • Status: Proposed Standard
  • Published: February 2009
  • Stream: IETF
  • Updates: RFC 3032, RFC 3270, RFC 3272, RFC 3443, RFC 3469, RFC 3564, RFC 3985, RFC 4182, RFC 4364, RFC 4379, RFC 4448, RFC 4761, RFC 5129
  • Errata: RFC Editor Errata

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 (c) 2009 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.

This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents in effect on the date of publication of this document (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info). Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document.

Abstract​

The early Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) documents defined the form of the MPLS label stack entry. This includes a three-bit field called the "EXP field". The exact use of this field was not defined by these documents, except to state that it was to be "reserved for experimental use".

Although the intended use of the EXP field was as a "Class of Service" (CoS) field, it was not named a CoS field by these early documents because the use of such a CoS field was not considered to be sufficiently defined. Today a number of standards documents define its usage as a CoS field.

To avoid misunderstanding about how this field may be used, it has become increasingly necessary to rename this field. This document changes the name of the field to the "Traffic Class field" ("TC field"). In doing so, it also updates documents that define the current use of the EXP field.

Table of Contents​

Authors' Addresses​

Loa Andersson Acreo AB

EMail: [email protected]

Rajiv Asati Cisco Systems

EMail: [email protected]