Techniques are described for managing periodic communications between
devices. For example, a periodic packet process may receive configuration
parameters from a routing protocol process. The periodic packet process
may manage periodic communication sessions with neighboring devices in
accordance with the configuration parameters from the routing protocol
process. The periodic packet process may monitor for incoming periodic
packets from a specified neighboring device in a specified periodic time
interval. The periodic packet process may also send outbound periodic
packets at a specified periodic time interval.