At a very high level, the control plane establishes the local data set used to create the
forwarding table entries, which are in turn used by the data plane to forward traffic
between ingress and egress ports on a device.2 The data set used to store the network
topology is called the routing information base (RIB). The RIB is often kept consistent
(i.e., loop-free) through the exchange of information between other instances of control
planes within the network. Forwarding table entries are commonly called the forwarding
information base (FIB) and are often mirrored between the control and data planes
of a typical device. The FIB is programmed once the RIB is deemed consistent and stable.