SeGmeNt RouTinG in 10 MiNuTes..!
What is Segment Routing?
Network technology is developing day by day. With this development many Technologies are coming to our lives and all these new Technologies need different type of requirements. What are these Technologies? For example, Internet of Things (IoT), 5G, Cloud Services etc. For these new services, new requirements has arisedand networks has become insufficiant. So, as a new concept, Segment Routing (SR) has developed. Here, Segment Routing (SR) is basically a new view to source routing with MPLS or without MPLS. With this new protocol, data packets are forwarded based on source routes but with a more flexible and scalable way. With this new concept we do not use “per application” behaviour. Instead, SR routers behave each packet according to the forwarding information inside the packet.
In Segment Routing (SR) concept, network paths are divided into a couple of segments and each of these segments has a Segment ID (SID). This Segment ID is a 32 bits value. These segments are the identifier of different information. The source selects a path with a segment list that includes different Segments with different Segment IDs. This segment list is encoded in packet header.
Many Network vendors like Cisco, Huawei, Juniper and Nokia has solutions for SR.
What Are The Lacks of Legacy Routing?
In todays’s World network Technologies are developing very rapidly. Many new technologis has been added to our World and this still continues. With these new Technologies, the existing networks become insufficiant. So, they should adapt to these changes. But, adaption to the new technologis with old routing style is more complex and not an efficient way for networking. So, Segment Routing (SR) has developed.
Think about it? Making too much changes on an existing system or developing a new view is better? The answer can be changed but going through a new way seem better acording to many network experts.
In the classical routing, paths are calculated according to the used services. If it is a best effor traffic, it is routed through a low cost path or if it is a critical traffic, it is routed through a more secured path. This scenarios are too much. The network need to adapt dynamically to these changes. But with Segment Routing (SR), this hard work is changing.
Segment Routing Types
Based on the used technology, SR concepts can be different. There are mainly two types of SR. What are these Segment Routing types?
- SR MPLS (Segment Routing MPLS)
- SRv6 (Segment Routing IPv6)
SR MPLS (Segment Routing MPLS) is the type that uses MPLS as forwarding plane. Data is sent over MPLS networks. In this type, both IPv4 and IPv6 can be used. If it is used with;
