scope:

Scope and Field of Application

This International Standard specifies a protocol which is used by Network Layer entities operating ISO 8473 in End Systems and Intermediate Systems (referred to herein as ES and IS respectively) to maintain routeing information. The Protocol herein described relies upon the provision of a connectionless-mode underlying service. ¹⁾

This International Standard specifies:

a) procedures for the transmission of configuration and routeing information between Network entities residing in End Systems and Network entities residing in Intermediate Systems;

b) the encoding of the protocol data units used for the transmission of the configuration and routeing information;

c) procedures for the correct interpretation of protocol control information; and

d) the functional requirements for implementations claiming conformance to this International Standard.

The procedures are defined in terms of:

a) the interactions between End System and Intermediate System Network entities through the exchange of protocol data units; and

b) the interactions between a Network entity and an underlying service provider through the exchange of subnetwork service primitives.

This International Standard does not specify any protocol elements or algorithms for facilitating routeing and relaying among Intermediate Systems. Such functions are intentionally beyond the scope of this International Standard.

¹⁾ See Clause 8 of ISO 8473 for the mechanisms necessary to re-alize this service on subnetworks based on IS0 8208 and IS0 8802.