Hi John-

Yes. For NSI I think we can say an STP==endpoint.

I think STPs in the abstract sense may be topological locations other than just a port or a VLAN, but for the purposes of NSI v1.0, I think a "real STP" is indeed a location in the topology where a connection may originate or terminate.

(I note that I used a circular reference in the endpoint definition. Apologies. An Endpoint is the physical topological terminus of a connection.) I do reserve some flexibility in the abstraction however. I think there are ways we can use Service Termination Points to indicate larger complexes of topological elements. If folks are intersted I will elaborate, but for now, and to be expedient with respect to defining ReserveRequest() parameters, I suggest we accept an adequate definition and leave additional refinement to later.

Is this helpful?
Jerry

On 3/12/11 9:57 PM, John MacAuley wrote:

Jerry,

So based on your definition below is STP == Endpoint Reference from an NSI protocol perspective?

Definitions:

Service Termination Point := 1. An abstract object that represents the ingress or egress point of a connection, or the abstract notion of a location in a topology where a connection could potentially originate or terminate. 2. A real point in a topology where a connection can originate or terminate.

Endpoint := In NSI, this is a location within a network that can be used as an endpoint for a connection.

Endpoint Reference := a two-tuple consisting of a {<network name>, <endpoint name>} . An “endpoint reference” is this tuple, the “endpoint” itself is the topological location it identifies.

John.