802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging Design and Evolution: The Architects Perspective

Facilitates both the understanding and adoption of 802.1aq asa networking solution

802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) is a technology thatgreatly simplifies the creation and configuration of carrier,enterprise, and cloud computing networks by using moderncomputing power to deprecate signaling, and to integrate multicast,multipath routing, and large–scale virtualization. It is arguablyone of the most significant enhancements in Ethernet′s history.

802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging Design and Evolutionexplains both the "what" and the "why" of the technology standardbeing set today. It covers which decisions were elective and whichwere dictated by the design goals by using a multipart approachthat first explains what SPB is, before transitioning intonarrative form to describe the design processes and decisionsbehind it.

To make SPB accessible to the data networking professional frommultiple perspectives, the book:

Provides a "Reader′s Companion" to the standard

Dissects the different elements of SPB

Offers applications and potential futures for the technology

802.1aq Shortest Path Bridging Design and Evolution willappeal to system implementers, system and network architects,academics, IT professionals, and general networkingprofessionals.

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

Abbreviations xvii

1. IEEE 802.1aq in a Nutshell: Antecedents and Technology 1

2. Why SPB Looks as It Does 36

3. Why the SPB Control Plane Looks as It Does 74

4. Practical Deployment Considerations 130

5. Applications of SPB 150

6. Futures 158

Conclusion 186

References 188

Index 190

David Allan is a Distinguished Engineer at Ericsson and aformer Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Nortel. He is theholder of some thirty patents in telecommunications, includingseveral for the co–invention of technology fundamental to 802.1aqand 802.1Qay. In addition, he co–chairs the End–to–End ArchitectureCommittee of the Broadband Forum, which recently honored him as aDistinguished Fellow.

Nigel Bragg has spent twenty years in thetelecommunications industry, thirteen of them withNortel where he was elected a Nortel Fellow in2008 before joining Ciena where he works on packet transportand Carrier Ethernet technologies. He holds over thirty patents andis a co–inventor of PBT and PLSB, the pre–standard predecessors ofPBB–TE and SPBM.