7. Internal Tables

This document defines the major protocol tables used by MTRP.

The neighbor table stores direct-neighbor state.

A neighbor entry SHOULD include:

• destination node identifier
• egress path identifier
• direct metric
• last-seen time
• expiry time
• capability information
• security information
• reliability counters

The forwarding table stores learned route candidates.

A forwarding entry SHOULD include:

• destination node identifier
• next-hop node identifier
• egress path identifier
• learned metric
• sequence value
• expiry time
• last-updated time
• route flags

Multiple entries for the same destination MAY coexist if they differ by next hop, path, or both.

The preferred route table stores selected forwarding choices.

A preferred-route entry SHOULD include:

• destination node identifier
• next-hop node identifier
• egress path identifier
• selected-at time
• hold-down-until time
• in-use state

The preferred route table is not required to mirror the forwarding table.

The message cache stores recently seen frames for duplicate suppression.

The cache SHOULD be bounded in size and SHOULD expire entries after a finite time window.