If the operator wants to route on a new property or a new path-generation algorithm, an applet which performs the new functionality can be distributed to all FIRE nodes and used. A FIRE router determines which forwarding table to use based on a set of filters applied to each data packet. The result of the filters is a pointer to the desired forwarding table. A FIRE control operator determines which properties are advertised by FIRE routers, which path-generation algorithms are used, and the filters for determining which forwarding table to use. FIRE distributes and maintains state in two different ways.
Most state information is distributed via flooding.
Based on the state information that is flooded, nodes may also download from FIRE repositories configuration files, path-generation applets, filters, etc. FIRE will support working with BGP-4. It will not support working with another IGP in the same routing domain. FIRE will require authentication and data integrity, and will protect from denial of service attacks. FIRE will not encrypt its data.