Sirpent: a high-performance internetworking approach
David R. Cheriton · ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review · 1989
A clear target for computer communication technology is to support a high-performance global internetwork. Current internetworking approaches use either concatenated virtual circuits, as in X.75, or a “universal” internetwork datagram, as in the DoD Internet IP protocol and the ISO connectionless network protocol (CLNP). Both approaches have significant disadvantages. This paper describes Sirpent™ (Source Internetwork Routing Protocol with Extended Network Transfer) 1 , a new approach to an internetwork architecture that makes source routing the basis for interconnection, rather than an option as in IP. Its benefits include simple switching with low per-packet processing and delay, support for accounting and congestion control, and scalability to a global internetwork. It also supports flexible, user-controlled routing such as required for security, policy-based routing and realtime applications. We also propose a specific internetwork protocol, called VIPER™ 2 , as a realization of the Sirpent approach.