Subject: WG Review: Internet Traffic Engineering (tewg)

From: Steve Coya <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999 13:19:16 -0400

A new IETF working group has been proposed in the Operations and
Management Area.  The IESG has not made any determination as yet.

The following Description was submitted, and is provided for
informational purposes only:

Internet Traffic Engineering (tewg)
-----------------------------------
 Current Status: Proposed Working Group
 
     General Discussion:[email-masked]
     To Subscribe:      [email-masked]
         In Body:       subscribe
     Archive:           ftp://ftpext.eng.us.uu.net/tewg

Description of Working Group:
 
Note: Rob Coltun ([email-masked]) is technical advisor

The Internet Traffic Engineering working group is chartered to define,
develop, specify, and recommend principles, techniques, and mechanisms
for traffic engineering in the Internet. The working group will also
serve as a general forum for discussing possible improvements to IETF
protocols to advance the Traffic Engineering function.

Internet Traffic Engineering is defined as that aspect of Internet
network engineering which is concerned with the performance
optimization of operational networks. It encompasses the application
of technology and scientific principles to the measurement, modeling,
characterization, and control of Internet traffic, and the application
of such knowledge and techniques to achieve specific performance
objectives, including the reliable and expeditious movement of traffic
through the network, the efficient utilization of network resources,
and the planning of network capacity.

The primary focus of the TE WG concerns the control aspects of
intra-domain Internet traffic engineering. This includes control
aspects pertaining to intra-domain routing and control aspects
pertaining to intra-domain network resource allocation. Techniques
already in use or in advanced development for Internet TE include ATM
and Frame Relay overlay models, MPLS based approaches,
constraint-based routing, and TE methodologies in Diffserv
environments. The WG will describe and characterize these and other
techniques, document how they fit together, and identify scenarios in
which they are useful.

The working group may also consider solutions to the problem of
traffic engineering across autonomous systems boundaries.

As part of its deliverables, the TE WG will produce a comprehensive
framework document that articulates the general principles and
requirements for Internet traffic engineering, with emphasis on
techniques in use or in advanced development. The working group may
also produce documents that suggest possible improvements to IETF
protocols to support the traffic engineering function. Additionally,
the WG may produce specialized requirements documents that focus on
specific aspects of Internet traffic engineering. Other informational
documents may be produced as necessary.

The TE WG will interact with other areas of IETF activity whose scope
intersect with the definition of traffic engineering. These include
various working groups in the Routing Area (e.g. MPLS, IS-IS, OSPF,
etc), the Transport Area (e.g. Diffserv, IPPM, RAP, RTFM,), and the
Operations and Management Area (e.g. POLICY, RMONMIB, DISMAN, etc).