Technical Summary
A micro-loop is a packet forwarding loop which may occur transiently
among two or more routers in a hop by hop packet forwarding paradigm.
This framework provides a summary of the causes and consequences of
micro-loops and enables the reader to form a judgement on whether
micro-looping is an issue that needs to be addressed in specific
networks. It also provides a survey of the currently proposed
mechanisms that may be used to prevent or to suppress the formation
of micro-loops when an IP or MPLS network undergoes topology change
due to failure, repair or management action. When sufficiently fast
convergence is not available and the topology is susceptible to
micro-loops, use of one or more of these mechanisms may be desirable.
Working Group Summary
No controversy reported (see PROTO writeup by John Scudder). This
document has been evolving since 2006 and reflects a good summary
of the approaches explored by the WG.
Document Quality
The document is a framework intended as an Informational RFC and
does not specify a protocol. It has received reasonable review
from WG members, and has been updated in response to Gen-ART
comments by Ben Campbell as well as IETF last call and IESG comments.
Personnel
John Scudder is the Document Shepherd for this document. Ross
Callon is the Responsible Area Director.