Hi all,
In the terminology section, there is the following text describing Loopback:
o Loopback - A function in which the router's interface to the
network is looped back, resulting in interface unavailability for
regular data traffic forwarding. See more details in section 9.1
of [RFC1247]. Loopback function is commonly used to gain
information on the quality of this interface, by employing
mechanisms such as ICMPv6 pings, bit-error test etc. Loopback
function may be done locally or remotely.
I suggest the replacement of the above text with the following text:
Loopback - A function in which the router's interface (or the circuit to
which the router's interface is connected) is looped back or connected
to itself. Loopback causes packets sent by the interface to be received
by the interface, and results in interface unavailability for regular
data traffic forwarding. See more details in section 9.1 of [RFC1247].
The Loopback function is commonly used in an interface context to gain
information on the quality of the interface, by employing mechanisms
such as ICMPv6 pings, bit-error tests, etc. In a circuit context, it is
used in wide area environments including optical dense wave division
multiplexing (DWDM) and SONET/SDH for fault isolation (e.g. by placing a
loopback at different geographic locations along the path of a wide area
circuit to help locate a circuit fault). The Loopback function may be
employed locally or remotely.
I have looked briefly for a reference in standards for Loopback in a
circuit context, and haven't found one yet. However, I like the new
text because it captures the notion that a circuit might be in loopback
and therefore cause the interface to receive traffic it sent, where the
current text (as well as its reference) covers only the interface case.
Comments welcome.
Thanks,
--eli
--
Eli Dart NOC: (510) 486-7600
ESnet Network Engineering Group (AS293) (800) 333-7638
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
PGP Key fingerprint = C970 F8D3 CFDD 8FFF 5486 343A 2D31 4478 5F82 B2B3
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