Lightweight Network Support -
Ephemeral State Processing and LightWeight Packet Processing Modules
New Internet services traditionally rely on enhanced
functionality in end systems, with the network infrastructure
providing a simple, consistent packet-switching service.
Increasingly, support for specific services is being built
into the network using proprietary approaches.
End-system-based services can be deployed quickly and with low
overhead; they also allow the network infrastructure to remain
open and flexible, so future applications are not precluded. However, some
problems (such as QoS and multicast) can only be solved effectively
with router support. Network-based solutions can offer excellent
performance, but open interfaces to network elements
present challenges of scalability. Network-based solutions are also
harder to deploy since they require fork-lift upgrades of all
network equipment. Ideally, it would be possible to combine the
flexibility and scalability of the end-system approach with the
performance of the network-based approach, by placing a small set of
basic support mechanisms in routers.
We propose such an approach, based upon two building-block
mechanisms:
Ephemeral State Processing, and Lightweight Processing
Modules. These
building-block services are designed to be implemented simply and
efficiently in network hardware (e.g., route processors, ASIC
chips, or NIC cards) and offer end-system controlled
services operating potentially at wireline speeds.
We have already developed a method of building a multicast service
using only standard unicast routing and these building blocks.
We believe these mechanisms can provide Internet Service
Providers, router vendors, and application writers the ability
to dynamically create and deploy new network services or reimplement
application-specific versions of traditional network services, while
preserving the open nature of the Internet.
Supported by the Intel IXA University grant, we are implementing and evaluating
our building-block
mechanisms using the microengine platform provided by the Intel IXP1200
architecture. We will incorporate the new hardware into our existing
PC network and experiment with network protocols that invoke the
building-block functionality to create new network services.
People
Related Publications
Kenneth L. Calvert, James Griffioen and Su Wen.
Lightweight Network Support for Scalable End-to-End Services.
Proceedings of SIGCOMM 2002. Pittsburg, PA. August 2002.
Su Wen, James Griffioen and Kenneth L. Calvert.
CALM: Congestion-Aware Layered Multicast.
Proceedings of OpenArch 2002. New York, NY. June 2002.
Su Wen, James Griffioen and Kenneth L. Calvert.
Building Multicast Services from Unicast Forwarding and Ephemeral State. Computer Netowrks: the International Journal of Computer and Telecommunications Networking. Elsevier Science. Vol.38, Issue 3. February, 2002. pp.327-45.
Ken Calvert