3. LISP architecture

3.1 Operating principle

LISP's approach to improving routing efficiency within the Internet is based on the manipulation of two new types of identifiers in place of IP addresses: Routing LOCators (RLOCs), which are assigned to points of attachment to the network, and Endpoint IDentifiers (EIDs), which are assigned independently of the network topology. EIDs are used to number devices connected to the network. The LISP protocol then relies on mapping functions to associate EIDs with RLOCs, and encapsulation functions to route traffic exchanged between two terminals identified by their respective EIDs, on the basis of the RLOC information with which these EIDs are associated.