Tunnel Setup Protocol

In computer networking, the Tunnel Setup Protocol (TSP) is a networking control protocol used to negotiate IP tunnel setup parameters between a tunnel client host and a tunnel broker server, the tunnel end-points. The protocol is defined in RFC 5572.^[1] A major use of TSP is in IPv6 transition mechanisms.

Parameter negotiation

The TSP protocol performs negotiation of the following parameters:

• User authentication using the Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) protocol (RFC 4422).^[2]
• Tunnel encapsulation for a variety of tunneling scenarios:
  • IPv6 over IPv4 tunnels (RFC 4213)
  • IPv4 over IPv6 tunnels (RFC 2473)
  • IPv6 over UDP/IPv4 tunnels for built-in traversal of network address translators (NAT)
• IP address assignment for both tunnel endpoints
• Domain Name System (DNS) registration of end point addresses and reverse DNS
• Tunnel keep-alive mechanism as needed
• IPv6 address prefix assignment for routers
• Routing protocols

TSP Session

A TSP session is initiated by the TSP client in the goal of establishing an end-to-end tunnel with the TSP server (tunnel broker). The session consists of a basic exchange of XML-encoded data using TCP or UDP. After the negotiation of tunnel setup parameters, the session is terminated and the client undertakes the task of configuring its local tunnel endpoint.

References

1. RFC 5572 (Experimental), IPv6 Tunnel Broker with the Tunnel Setup Protocol (TSP), M. Blanchet, F. Parent, (February 2010)
2. RFC 4422, Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL), A. Melnikov, K. Zeilenga (June 2006)