The Tunnel Setup Protocol (TSP) [BP05] is a general method designed to simplify the setup of (authenticated) IPv6 tunnels over IPv4 networks. The TSP method was initially applied to tunnel brokers, but the scope of the TSP applicability is much wider. As the name implies TSP is less of a transition mechanism itself than a protocol to describe the proper (automatic) setup of any kind of tunnel to transport IPv6 via a part of the network, where IPv6 is not available.

TSP offers advantages for tunnel brokers, including better support for IPv4 NAT traversal and support for authentication of the tunnel setup.