Stefano Salsano| SRv6 Workshop — Introduction| Netdev 0x1A — Rome 2026
University of Rome Tor Vergata CNIT
SRv6 Workshop @ Netdev 0x1A

SRv6 Workshop
Introduction

Stefano Salsano1,2
1University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy  ·  2CNIT, Italy
Netdev 0x1A — The Technical Conference on Linux Networking
SRv6 Workshop — 13 July 2026, Rome, Italy

SRv6 in one slide

  • A program in the packet header (RFC 8986)
  • A segment is an instruction, not just a location
  • Linux: seg6 since kernel 4.10 — 2017
  • Ecosystem: FRR, SONiC, Cilium, VPP
  • No new dataplane: it is plain IPv6
Why here. SRv6 is where the network design meets the kernel datapath.
IPv6 header DA = active segment Segment Routing Header (SRH) Segment[2] End Segment[1] End.X Segment[0] End.DT4 / End.DT2U the path and the service, in the header Segments Left → next instruction Payload (IPv4 / IPv6 / Ethernet) Ethernet payload → the L2 talk of this workshop

A netdev tradition

0x16
Lisbon, 2022. First SRv6 workshop: the kernel implementation, seg6local behaviors, the early ecosystem.
0x19
Zagreb, 2025. SRv6 goes production: FRR, SONiC, uSID, deployments at scale.
0x1A
Rome, 2026. Three directions that hit the datapath — and the gaps we still have to close.
The thread. Every edition, the interesting work moved closer to the kernel.

Three directions for this edition

1
Source-routed AI backends. ECMP gives no control over the fabric — SRv6 puts path placement in the host and the NIC.
2
L2 services beyond VXLAN. The kernel stops at End.DX2 — multipoint services and EVPN over SRv6 need more.
3
Provider-grade SRv6. End-to-end design on Linux + FRR, observability, and redundancy protection (R-SID).
+
Ecosystem update. SRv6 in Linux (9 years) and in FRR (5 years) of mainline support.

Agenda — 10:00 to 12:00

TimeTalkSpeaker
10:00–10:05Workshop IntroductionStefano Salsano — Tor Vergata
10:05–10:15SRv6 IntroductionAhmed Abdelsalam — Cisco
10:15–10:25SRv6 for the AI BackendStefano Salsano — Tor Vergata
10:25–10:40SRv6 in SONiC — “Enabling AI Backend use-case and many others”Ahmed Abdelsalam — Cisco
10:40–10:55SRv6 in FRR — “5 Years of mainline support”Carmine Scarpitta — Cisco
10:55–11:15SRv6 for network providers and service protectionFerenc Fejes — Ericsson
11:15–11:25SRv6 in Linux — “9 Years of mainline support”Andrea Mayer — Tor Vergata
11:25–11:45SRv6 Layer 2 Services supportAndrea Mayer — Tor Vergata
11:45–12:00Recap and Discussionall
Slides. netgroup.github.io/netdev-0x1A-srv6-workshop  ·  questions welcome at any time.