Huawei Technologies Huawei Technologies The Path Computation Element (PCE) is a core component of Software- Defined Networking (SDN) systems. It can compute optimal paths for traffic across a network and can also update the paths to reflect changes in the network or traffic demands. The PCE has been identified as an appropriate technology for the determination of the paths of point- to-multipoint (P2MP) TE Label Switched Paths (LSPs). PCE was developed to derive paths for MPLS P2MP LSPs, which are supplied to the head end (root) of the LSP using PCEP. PCEP has been proposed as a control protocol to allow the PCE to be fully enabled as a central controller. A PCE-based central controller (PCECC) can simplify the processing of a distributed control plane by blending it with elements of SDN and without necessarily completely replacing it. Thus, the P2MP LSP can be calculated/setup/initiated and the label forwarding entries can also be downloaded through a centralized PCE server to each network devices along the P2MP path while leveraging the existing PCE technologies as much as possible. This document specifies the procedures and PCEP protocol extensions for using the PCE as the central controller for P2MP TE LSP.