NLSR

Abstract

This paper presents the design of the Named-data Link State Routing protocol (NLSR), a routing protocol for Named Data Networking (NDN). Since NDN uses names to identify and retrieve data, NLSR propagates reachability to name prefixes instead of IP prefixes. Moreover, NLSR differs from IP-based link-state routing protocols in two fundamental ways. First, NLSR uses Interest/Data packets to disseminate routing updates, directly benefiting from NDN's data authenticity. Second, NLSR produces a list of ranked forwarding options for each name prefix to facilitate NDN's adaptive forwarding strategies. In this paper we discuss NLSR's main design choices on (1) a hierarchical naming scheme for routers, keys, and routing updates, (2) a hierarchical trust model for routing within a single administrative domain, (3) a hop-by-hop synchronization protocol to replace the traditional network-wide flooding for routing update dissemination, and (4) a simple way to rank multiple forwarding options. Compared with IP-based link state routing, NLSR offers more efficient update dissemination, built-in update authentication, and native support of multipath forwarding.