We argue for the refactoring of the IP control plane to provide
direct expressibility and support for network-wide goals
relating to all fundamental functionality: reachability, performance,
reliability and security. This refactoring is motivated
by trends in operational practice and in networking technology.
We put forward a design that decomposes functionality
into information dissemination and decision planes. The decision
plane is formed by lifting out of the routers all decision
making logic currently found there and merging it with the
current management plane where network-level objectives are
specified. What is left on each router is a wafer-thin control
plane focused on information dissemination and response to
explicit instructions for configuring packet forwarding mechanisms.
We discuss the consequences, advantages and challenges
associated with this design.