Re: Tunnels v. circuits was Re: MPLS OAM & the IETF

[George Swallow <swallow@cisco.com>]

> > > And the difference betwenn IP tunnels and circuits would be?
> > 
> > At the service level not much except that ordered delivery cannot be
> > assumed.
> > 
> > But in between the end points -
> > 
> > A circuit has a static (fixed) route, IP is dynamic.
> > 
> > Intermediate nodes carrying a circuit usually have state associated
> > with those circuits, IP nodes have no such state.
> 
> MPLS LSPs have state associated with the LSPS on the intermediate 
> nodes. Seem like a case for circuit based diagnostics for MPLS!
> 
> Don 

The statement I responded to (at the top of this message) did not
mention MPLS.  The point is circuit like techinique cannot and should
not be applied across the board to all LSPs because not all LSPs
behave like circuits (actually make that the overwhelming majority of
LSPs).

...George


==================================================================
George Swallow       Cisco Systems                  (978) 497-8143
                     250 Apollo Drive
                     Chelmsford, Ma 01824