The disclosure relates to technology distributing messages in a low power and lossy network (LLNs). A downstream message including one or more name prefixes hosted at a source node is forwarded along a nodal route of a routing topology. An upstream message is received from one or more nodes along one or more nodal routes in the routing topology based on a routing entry towards a parent node as learned from the downstream message, and an interest message, including one or more of a request for content or rank, is received from the one or more nodes along the one or more nodal routes having an optimal path, the optimal path determined by routing entries stored in the one or more nodes.