NSIS: a new extensible IP signaling protocol suite

In the last few years it number of applications have emerged that can benefit from network-layer signaling (i.e., the installation, maintenance, and removal of control state in network elements). These applications include path-coupled and path-decoupled quality of service management and resource allocation, as well its network debugging, NAT, and firewall control. These applications call for an extensible and securable signaling protocol. This article discusses some of the recent standardization efforts in the IETF for it new extensible IP signaling protocol suite (NSIS). We describe the design of the NSIS protocol suite, and compare it with RSVP, the current Internet QoS signaling protocol.