



CATS                                                               H. Fu
Internet-Draft                                           ZTE Corporation
Intended status: Standards Track                                   X. Yi
Expires: 30 August 2026                                     China Unicom
                                                                 B. Pang
                                             Beijing Jiaotong University
                                                                 D. Yuan
                                                                 W. Duan
                                                                 C. Miao
                                                         ZTE Corporation
                                                        26 February 2026


Hybrid Forwarding Mechanism for Computing-Aware Traffic Steering (CATS)
                      draft-fu-cats-hybrid-fwd-01

Abstract

   This document specifies a hybrid forwarding mechanism for Computing-
   Aware Traffic Steering (CATS).  The mechanism integrates the CATS
   forwarding table with the IP forwarding table to optimize forwarding
   table capacity utilization.  By customizing the forwarding model
   based on service identifiers, it accommodates both experience-
   sensitive and non-experience-sensitive services.  Additionally, it
   supports flow-granularity load balancing, enhancing the utilization
   of computing and networking resources while ensuring differentiated
   service requirements are satisfied.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
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   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
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   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on 30 August 2026.







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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2026 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/
   license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
   Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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   provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   4.  Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Hybrid Forwarding Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     5.1.  Table Management and Working Mechanism  . . . . . . . . .   6
     5.2.  Considerations for Hybrid Forwarding  . . . . . . . . . .   8
   6.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   7.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   8.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
     9.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  12
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13

1.  Introduction

   Computing-Aware Traffic Steering (CATS) [I-D.ldbc-cats-framework]
   targets efficient routing at the network edge, directing traffic
   between service clients and providers.  It relies on real-time
   computing and network status data for informed decisions.  CATS
   operates as an overlay system, choosing optimal service instances for
   requests.  The CATS framework does not assume any specific data plane
   or control plane solutions.

   As the integration of networking and computing deepens, users are
   placing increasingly higher demands on both the experience of network
   services and the efficiency of resource utilization.  This is
   particularly evident for services with low latency requirements, such
   as AR/VR, and services with explicit requirements for computing
   resources.  Traditional traffic steering mechanisms are not capable
   of meeting these evolving demands.  Relevant studies have



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   demonstrated that traffic steering that takes into account computing
   resource conditions can significantly improve service performance and
   user experience [I-D.ietf-cats-usecases-requirements].

   To address these challenges, the Computing-Aware Traffic Steering
   (CATS) framework has been proposed in [I-D.ldbc-cats-framework].  The
   primary goal of the CATS framework is to efficiently steer traffic at
   the edge device of the network instructed by traffic steering
   decisions referring to both computing and network conditions.  The
   CATS framework is designed as an overlay mechanism for selecting the
   optimal service instances, without relying on specific data-plane or
   control-plane solutions.

   This document specifies a hybrid forwarding mechanism for CATS with
   the following key features:

   *  Integration of Forwarding Tables: The CATS forwarding table is
      integrated with the IP forwarding table to achieve shared and
      efficient utilization of the forwarding table capacity.

   *  Customized Forwarding Model: The forwarding model is customized
      based on service identifiers to meet the demands of both
      experience-sensitive and non-experience-sensitive services.

   *  Flow-Level Load Balancing: The mechanism supports flow-granularity
      load balancing, enhancing the utilization of computing and
      networking resources while meeting diverse requirements for
      differentiated services.

   This hybrid forwarding mechanism provides a flexible and efficient
   solution for network vendors and service providers, facilitating the
   deployment of computing-aware traffic steering.

2.  Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
   "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP
   14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
   capitals, as shown here.

3.  Terminology

   This document uses terms defined in [I-D.ldbc-cats-framework],
   [I-D.lbdd-cats-dp-sr], and [I-D.fu-cats-flow-lb].

   This document defines the following additional terms:




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   CATS-IND:  An indicator in the forwarding table to identify CATS
      service packets.

   MODE-IND:  An indicator to differentiate service requirements (e.g.,
      experience-sensitive vs. non-sensitive services).

   Flow Affinity Table:  A data plane table maintaining flow-to-next-hop
      bindings to ensure consistent forwarding for packets belonging to
      the same flow.

   CATS Routing Table:  A control plane data structure containing
      network paths, service instances, and associated load sharing
      ratios for a given service identifier.

   CATS Forwarding Table:  A data plane construct derived from the CATS
      Routing Table, optimized for packet forwarding decisions.

4.  Problem Statement

   To effectively steer service request packets to appropriate
   forwarding paths and service instances, CATS faces several issues and
   challenges with existing technical solutions:

   Flow Affinity Mechanism Complexity:  To ensure continuous access to
      the same computing resource during a service session, a flow
      affinity mechanism based on five-tuples or three-tuples is
      required.  However, incorporating such lookups into the general
      routing process introduces additional processing overhead, which
      significantly increases packet forwarding latency and consumes
      chip resources.  This additional processing burden can degrade the
      performance of latency-sensitive services.

   Control Plane Overhead:  Computing services are characterized by
      ubiquity and state changes over time.  If the control plane
      indiscriminately performs periodic or event-driven route
      computation and table updates for all managed computing service
      types, it will excessively consume CPU resources and increase the
      burden of system management and maintenance.

   Initial Packet Handling and Latency:  Some solutions attempt to
      alleviate the control plane load by throttling and sending the
      first computing request packet to the control plane to generate a
      flow affinity table before the packet hits the flow affinity
      table.  However, there is a risk of packet loss before the table
      entry takes effect, and the control plane processing of the packet
      can also lead to high latency for the first packet, which affects
      the quality of experience and service continuity.




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5.  Hybrid Forwarding Model

   To address the aforementioned issues, this document specifies a
   hybrid forwarding mechanism.  This solution features high
   flexibility, enabling customized service strategies tailored to
   different service characteristics:

   Experience-Sensitive Services:  Utilize direct table-based forwarding
      to guarantee stringent QoS requirements and optimal user
      experience.

   Non-Sensitive Services:  Employ packet-driven table updates to
      minimize resource overhead while maintaining forwarding
      efficiency.

   Key advantages of this mechanism include:

   (i)    Reduced Control/Forwarding Plane Overhead: Mitigates update
          pressure through optimized table management.

   (ii)   Decoupled Legacy Router Dependency: Enhances the flexibility
          of deployment in modern network environments.

   (iii)  High Implementability and Scalability: Supports evolving
          service demands while maintaining backward compatibility.

   This approach provides an efficient and scalable solution for
   heterogeneous service delivery in next-generation networks.

   The Hybrid Forwarding mechanism operates within the framework defined
   in the CATS architecture [I-D.ldbc-cats-framework] (see Figure 1).




















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       +-----+              +------+           +------+
     +------+|            +------+ |         +------+ |
     |client|+            |client|-+         |client|-+
     +---+--+             +---+--+           +---+--+
         |                    |                  |
         | +----------------+ |            +-----+----------+
         +-+    C-TC#1      +-+      +-----+    C-TC#2      |
           |----------------|        |     |----------------|
           |     |C-PS#1    |    +------+  |CATS-Forwarder 4|
     ......|     +----------|....|C-PS#2|..|                |...
     :     |CATS-Forwarder 2|    |      |  |                |  .
     :     +----------------+    +------+  +----------------+  :
     :                                                         :
     :                                            +-------+    :
     :                         Underlay           | C-NMA |    :
     :                      Infrastructure        +-------+    :
     :                                                         :
     :                                                         :
     : +----------------+                +----------------+    :
     : |CATS-Forwarder 1|  +-------+     |CATS-Forwarder 3|    :
     :.|                |..|C-SMA#1|.... |                |....:
       +---------+------+  +-------+     +----------------+
                 |         |             |   C-SMA#2      |
                 |         |             +-------+--------+
                 |         |                     |
                 |         |                     |
              +------------+               +------------+
             +------------+ |             +------------+ |
             |  Service   | |             |  Service   | |
             |  Contact   | |             |  Contact   | |
             |  Instance  |-+             |  Instance  |-+
             +------------+               +------------+
              service site 1              service site 2

                    Figure 1: CATS Functional Components

5.1.  Table Management and Working Mechanism














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   CATS ROUTING TABLE
   --------------------------------------------------------------
   NextHop VPN ID Prefix IP    CATS-IND MODE-IND SR-Policy Service SID
   --------------------------------------------------------------
           1 CS-ID-1           1      1     SR-P-1  END-DX6-1
   --------------------------------------------------------------
           1 CS-ID-1           1      0     SR-P-2  END-DX6-2
   --------------------------------------------------------------
             |
             v
   CATS FORWARDING TABLE
   --------------------------------------------------------------
   NextHop VPN ID Prefix IP    CATS-IND MODE-IND SR-Policy Service SID
   --------------------------------------------------------------
           1 CS-ID-1           1      1     SR-P-1  END-DX6-1
   --------------------------------------------------------------
           1 CS-ID-1           1      0     NULL    NULL
   --------------------------------------------------------------

            Figure 2: CATS Table Management by the Control Plane

   Figure 2 presents a specific form of managing the CATS table entries
   on the control plane.  The explanation for the entries in the table
   is as follows:

   CS-ID Usage:  The CS-ID typically employs anycast IP addresses to
      identify services.  As specified in [I-D.lbdd-cats-dp-sr] and
      [I-D.fu-cats-muti-dp-solution], the forwarding mechanism varies
      based on service instance connectivity: (1) when an egress gateway
      is connected to multiple service instances, traffic is forwarded
      to a specific instance via either a tunnel or a general interface
      (on the same CATS-Forwarder) using an END.DX4/6 Service SID; (2)
      when a single service instance is involved, an END.DT4/6 Service
      SID enables direct forwarding via anycast IP.  Consequently, each
      Service SID maintains a strict one-to-one correspondence with its
      associated service instance.

   C-PS Deployment and Function:  The C-PS component is deployed on the
      head node or a centralized computation-network controller.  It
      collects and reports CS-ID, CIS-ID, and metric information related
      to service instances via C-SMA, as well as network-related
      capabilities and status information via C-NMA.  Based on the
      collected information, the C-PS calculates the optimal network
      forwarding path and service instance, which is then referred to as
      the CATS routing table.  The process of inserting or downloading
      these table entries to the forwarding plane is called the CATS
      forwarding table update.




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   Design and Function of the CATS Forwarding Table:  The CATS
      forwarding table shares space with the traditional IP forwarding
      table.  To distinguish CATS service packets from other types of
      packets, CS-ID is used for marking and identification, with CATS-
      IND serving as an indicator.  Additionally, to differentiate
      service requirements (e.g., delay-sensitive or other types), MODE-
      IND can be used for marking and labeling services based on CS-ID.
      As shown in Figure 2, relevant table entries are provided for
      reference.  For example, MODE-IND = 1 indicates experience-
      sensitive services, while MODE-IND = 0 indicates non-sensitive
      services.  It should be noted that although Figure 2 shows only
      one NextHop for the same CS-ID in the CATS routing and forwarding
      tables, multiple NextHops can still be supported to achieve flow-
      level load balancing according to [I-D.fu-cats-flow-lb].

   CATS Flow Affinity Table Mechanism:  To ensure that service sessions
      consistently access the same service instance, CATS introduces the
      flow affinity table.  This table uses a five-tuple or three-tuple
      as the key, with network path and service instance as related
      attributes.  By looking up the table with the five-tuple or three-
      tuple learned from the service packet, the relevant attributes are
      retrieved, and the forwarding action is executed accordingly.

5.2.  Considerations for Hybrid Forwarding

   To meet the demands of both experience-sensitive and non-sensitive
   services, this document specifies the following forwarding mechanism
   in conjunction with the key table entries discussed in Figure 2.

   Since the CS-ID is encoded in the form of anycast addresses, the CATS
   forwarding table and the IP forwarding table can share the same
   space.  Typically, traffic is distinguished by looking up the IP
   forwarding table.  Once CATS packets are identified, further flow
   forwarding processing is carried out.  This approach reduces invasive
   modifications to the forwarding mechanism while maintaining high-
   performance forwarding for both traditional services and CATS
   services.

   Specifically:

   (i)   For the case in which MODE-IND = 1, the issued CATS forwarding
         table includes SR-policy and Service SID information.  The
         control plane only sends updates to the data plane when table
         entries change, ensuring that both the first packet and
         subsequent packets are processed directly at the forwarding
         plane, while the control plane is solely responsible for
         generating the flow affinity table.




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   (ii)  For the case in which MODE-IND = 0, the issued CATS forwarding
         table does not include SR-policy and Service SID information.
         In this case, regardless of how the attributes of the CATS
         routing table change dynamically, the C-PS will not update the
         forwarding plane to reduce the overhead of table updates.  The
         first packet is uploaded to the control plane, which queries
         the CATS routing table, encapsulates and forwards the packet,
         and generates the flow affinity table to be sent to the
         forwarding plane.  Subsequent packets are forwarded based on
         the flow affinity table in the data plane.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  +---------+  +---------+                                                   |
|  | C-NMA   |  | C-SMA   |                                                   |
|  +---------+  +---------+                                                   |
|       |            |                                                        |
|       |            |           +---------------------------------+        |
|       |            |           | OPTION 2: Encapsulates with SRH |        |
|       |            |           | base on the CATS ROUTING TABLE  |-->     |
|       |            |           +---------------------------------+        |
|       |            |                      ^                                 |
|       |            |                      |                                 |
|       +------------v----------------------+                                 |
|       |                                                                   |
|       |   C-PS --> CATS ROUTING TABLE                                     |
|       |                                                                   |
|       +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                                   |
|                                   |
|-----------------------------------|----------------------------------------
|                                   |                                Data
|                                   |                                Plane
|                                   |
|       +---------------------------+---------------------------+
|       |                           |                           |
|       |   CATS FORWARDING TABLE   |   FLOW AFFINITY TABLE     |
|       |                           |                           |
|       +-------------+-------------+ +-------------+-------------+
|                     |                           |
|                     |                           |
|                     |   +---------------------+ |
|                     |   |                     | |
|                     +-->|  FLOW FORWARDING    | |
|                         |  TABLE              | |
|                         |                     | |
|       +------------+    |  / Encapsulates with| |
|       |            |    |    SRH base on the  | |
|       |   IP       |    |    FLOW AFFINITY    | |



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| Packets| FORWARDING |--->|    TABLE (HIT)      |------>
|       |   TABLE    |    |                     | |
|       |            |    +---------------------+ |
|       +------------+                           |
|              |                                 |
|              | MISS                            |
|              v                                 |
|       +----------------+                       |
|       | Conventional   |                       |
|       | IP Routing     |                       |
|       | Process and    |---------------------->
|       | SRH Encapsulation|
|       +----------------+

                Figure 3: Hybrid Forwarding Mechanism

   As shown in Figure 3, the relevant forwarding process is as follows:

   (i)    Upon arrival, a packet first looks up the IP forwarding table.
          If the CATS_IND in the lookup result is 0, the packet is
          identified as a conventional non-CATS service packet;
          otherwise, it is identified as a CATS service packet, and the
          flow forwarding process is initiated.

   (ii)   After entering the flow forwarding processing, the MODE-IND
          identifier in the lookup result is further recognized, and
          different processing is performed based on its value.

   (iii)  If MODE-IND = 1, the first packet extracts five-tuple/three-
          tuple information, sends it to the control plane to generate
          the flow affinity table and send it to the forwarding plane.
          At the same time, the first packet is encapsulated and
          forwarded directly at the forwarding plane based on the SR-
          policy and Service SID information carried in the lookup
          result (Option 1).

   (iv)   If MODE-IND = 0, the forwarding table entry does not carry SR-
          policy and Service SID information.  The first packet is sent
          directly to the control plane, which queries the CATS routing
          table, generates the flow affinity table, and sends it to the
          forwarding plane.  At the same time, the first packet is
          encapsulated and forwarded at the control plane based on the
          SR-policy and Service SID information carried in the lookup
          result (Option 2).







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   Based on this, for experience-sensitive services, the first packet
   can be forwarded directly at the forwarding plane to reduce first-
   packet latency; for non-experience-sensitive services, the first
   packet can be processed at the control plane to reduce the processing
   overhead of control-plane table updates.

   By adopting the above measures, a flexible CATS hybrid forwarding
   solution can be selected according to the characteristics of
   different services associated with the CS-ID, ensuring optimal
   performance for different service types.

6.  Security Considerations

   This document does not introduce new security considerations beyond
   those discussed in [I-D.ldbc-cats-framework].  The hybrid forwarding
   mechanism relies on the security properties of the underlying CATS
   framework and the data plane technologies used (e.g., SRv6).

   Implementations SHOULD ensure that:

   *  Flow affinity table entries are protected against exhaustion
      attacks through rate limiting of new flow creation.

   *  Control plane updates to the CATS forwarding table are
      authenticated and authorized.

   *  First packets processed by the control plane (MODE-IND = 0) are
      subject to appropriate validation to prevent control plane
      overload.

7.  Acknowledgements

   TBD.

8.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no IANA actions.

9.  References

9.1.  Normative References










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   [I-D.ldbc-cats-framework]
              Li, C., Du, Z., Boucadair, M., Contreras, L. M., and J.
              Drake, "A Framework for Computing-Aware Traffic Steering
              (CATS)", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-ldbc-
              cats-framework-06, 8 February 2024,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ldbc-cats-
              framework-06>.

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

   [RFC8402]  Filsfils, C., Ed., Previdi, S., Ed., Ginsberg, L.,
              Decraene, B., Litkowski, S., and R. Shakir, "Segment
              Routing Architecture", RFC 8402, DOI 10.17487/RFC8402,
              July 2018, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8402>.

   [RFC8754]  Filsfils, C., Ed., Dukes, D., Ed., Previdi, S., Leddy, J.,
              Matsushima, S., and D. Voyer, "IPv6 Segment Routing Header
              (SRH)", RFC 8754, DOI 10.17487/RFC8754, March 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8754>.

   [RFC8986]  Filsfils, C., Ed., Camarillo, P., Ed., Leddy, J., Voyer,
              D., Matsushima, S., and Z. Li, "Segment Routing over IPv6
              (SRv6) Network Programming", RFC 8986,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC8986, February 2021,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8986>.

9.2.  Informative References

   [I-D.ietf-cats-usecases-requirements]
              Yao, K., Contreras, L. M., Shi, H., Zhang, S., and Q. An,
              "Computing-Aware Traffic Steering (CATS) Problem
              Statement, Use Cases, and Requirements", Work in Progress,
              Internet-Draft, draft-ietf-cats-usecases-requirements-14,
              2 February 2026, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-ietf-cats-usecases-requirements-14>.









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   [I-D.li-dyncast-architecture]
              Li, Y., Iannone, L., Trossen, D., Liu, P., and C. Li,
              "Dynamic-Anycast Architecture", Work in Progress,
              Internet-Draft, draft-li-dyncast-architecture-08, 16
              January 2023, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-li-dyncast-architecture-08>.

   [I-D.huang-service-aware-network-framework]
              Huang, D., Tan, B., and D. Yang, "Service Aware Network
              Framework", Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-huang-
              service-aware-network-framework-01, 22 November 2022,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-huang-
              service-aware-network-framework-01>.

   [I-D.lbdd-cats-dp-sr]
              Li, C., Du, Z., Drake, J., and shangyuxiang, "Computing-
              Aware Traffic Steering (CATS) Using Segment Routing", Work
              in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-lbdd-cats-dp-sr-06, 13
              October 2025, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/
              draft-lbdd-cats-dp-sr-06>.

   [I-D.fu-cats-muti-dp-solution]
              Huakai.Fu, Liu, B., Li, Z., Huang, D., Yuan, D., Ma, L.,
              and W. Duan, "Analysis for Multiple Data Plane Solutions
              of Computing-Aware Traffic Steering", Work in Progress,
              Internet-Draft, draft-fu-cats-muti-dp-solution-03, 19
              August 2025, <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-
              fu-cats-muti-dp-solution-03>.

   [I-D.fu-cats-flow-lb]
              Fu, H., Huang, D., Duan, W., and B. Tan, "Flow-Level Load
              Balancing of Computing-Aware Traffic Steering (CATS)",
              Work in Progress, Internet-Draft, draft-fu-cats-flow-lb-
              03, 26 February 2026,
              <https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-fu-cats-flow-
              lb-03>.

   [RFC7094]  McPherson, D., Oran, D., Thaler, D., and E. Osterweil,
              "Architectural Considerations of IP Anycast", RFC 7094,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC7094, January 2014,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7094>.

Authors' Addresses

   Huakai Fu
   ZTE Corporation
   Wuhan
   China



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   Email: fu.huakai@zte.com.cn


   Xinxin Yi
   China Unicom
   Beijing
   China
   Email: yixx3@chinaunicom.cn


   Bo Pang
   Beijing Jiaotong University
   Beijing
   China
   Email: bopang@bjtu.edu.cn


   Dongyu Yuan
   ZTE Corporation
   Nanjing
   China
   Email: yuan.dongyu@zte.com.cn


   Wei Duan
   ZTE Corporation
   Nanjing
   China
   Email: duan.wei1@zte.com.cn


   Chuanyang Miao
   ZTE Corporation
   Nanjing
   China
   Email: miao.chuanyang@zte.com.cn















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