Analysis of Network Layer Routing Loops

The performance implications for today's networks of the original TTL routing loop mitigation process are investigated, considering a range of router buffer sizes in a network dominated by TCP traffic. The slow behavior of TTL-based loop mitigation is confirmed, which leads to network performance degradation and link capacity wastage during the routing loop in the presence of the large buffers found in present-day routers. The results have implications for new Carrier Ethernet technologies such as IEEE 802.1aq.