network element control protocol (NECP)

The Network Element Control Protocol (NECP) is a protocol of the Internet Engineering Task Force( IETF) that improves the interaction of switches and caching systems. The task of the NECP protocol, which was developed by an alliance of well-known network companies, is Internet caching and the associated updating of cached content in proxy servers.

Proxy servers are used, among other things, to cache websites so that they can be accessed close to the customer rather than from remote hosts. However, this leads to the fact that the data is not always up to date and timely. The NECP protocol is designed to solve this problem.

The NECP protocol works between proxy servers and layer 4 switches of an Internet node. It informs the switch about cacheable content and its changes. In addition, the NECP protocol monitors the operational state of the server and forwards requests that cannot be answered by the proxy directly to the host server. In addition, the NECP protocol dynamically load balances the proxy server by informing the Layer 4 switch of the proxy's load level.