Description and Experience of the Clinical Testbeds

This deliverable describes the up-to-date technical environment at three clinical testbed demonstrator sites of the 6WINIT Project, including the adapted clinical applications, project components and network transition technologies in use at these sites after 18 months of the Project. It also provides an interim description of early experiences with deployment and usage of these applications, components and technologies, and their clinical service impact

SDN Architecture and Southbound APIs for IPv6 Segment Routing Enabled Wide Area Networks

The SRv6 architecture (Segment Routing based on IPv6 data plane) is a promising solution to support services like Traffic Engineering, Service Function Chaining and Virtual Private Networks in IPv6 backbones and datacenters. The SRv6 architecture has interesting scalability properties as it reduces the amount of state information that needs to be configured in the nodes to support the network services. In this paper, we describe the advantages of complementing the SRv6 technology with an SDN based approach in backbone networks. We discuss the architecture of a SRv6 enabled network based on Linux nodes. In addition, we present the design and implementation of the Southbound API between the SDN controller and the SRv6 device. We have defined a data-model and four different implementations of the API, respectively based on gRPC, REST, NETCONF and remote Command Line Interface (CLI). Since it is important to support both the development and testing aspects we have realized an Intent based emulation system to build realistic and reproducible experiments. This collection of tools automate most of the configuration aspects relieving the experimenter from a significant effort. Finally, we have realized an evaluation of some performance aspects of our architecture and of the different variants of the Southbound APIs and we have analyzed the effects of the configuration updates in the SRv6 enabled nodes

Deliverable JRA1.1: Evaluation of current network control and management planes for multi-domain network infrastructure

This deliverable includes a compilation and evaluation of available control and management architectures and protocols applicable to a multilayer infrastructure in a multi-domain Virtual Network environment.The scope of this deliverable is mainly focused on the virtualisation of the resources within a network and at processing nodes. The virtualization of the FEDERICA infrastructure allows the provisioning of its available resources to users by means of FEDERICA slices. A slice is seen by the user as a real physical network under his/her domain, however it maps to a logical partition (a virtual instance) of the physical FEDERICA resources. A slice is built to exhibit to the highest degree all the principles applicable to a physical network (isolation, reproducibility, manageability, ...). Currently, there are no standard definitions available for network virtualization or its associated architectures. Therefore, this deliverable proposes the Virtual Network layer architecture and evaluates a set of Management- and Control Planes that can be used for the partitioning and virtualization of the FEDERICA network resources. This evaluation has been performed taking into account an initial set of FEDERICA requirements; a possible extension of the selected tools will be evaluated in future deliverables. The studies described in this deliverable define the virtual architecture of the FEDERICA infrastructure. During this activity, the need has been recognised to establish a new set of basic definitions (taxonomy) for the building blocks that compose the so-called slice, i.e. the virtual network instantiation (which is virtual with regard to the abstracted view made of the building blocks of the FEDERICA infrastructure) and its architectural plane representation. These definitions will be established as a common nomenclature for the FEDERICA project. Other important aspects when defining a new architecture are the user requirements. It is crucial that the resulting architecture fits the demands that users may have. Since this deliverable has been produced at the same time as the contact process with users, made by the project activities related to the Use Case definitions, JRA1 has proposed a set of basic Use Cases to be considered as starting point for its internal studies. When researchers want to experiment with their developments, they need not only network resources on their slices, but also a slice of the processing resources. These processing slice resources are understood as virtual machine instances that users can use to make them behave as software routers or end nodes, on which to download the software protocols or applications they have produced and want to assess in a realistic environment. Hence, this deliverable also studies the APIs of several virtual machine management software products in order to identify which best suits FEDERICA’s needs.Postprint (published version

Performance evaluation of HIP-based network security solutions

Abstract. Host Identity Protocol (HIP) is a networking technology that systematically separates the identifier and locator roles of IP addresses and introduces a Host Identity (HI) name space based on a public key security infrastructure. This modification offers a series of benefits such as mobility, multi-homing, end-to-end security, signaling, control/data plane separation, firewall security, e.t.c. Although HIP has not yet been sufficiently applied in mainstream communication networks, industry experts foresee its potential as an integral part of next generation networks. HIP can be used in various HIP-aware applications as well as in traditional IP-address-based applications and networking technologies, taking middle boxes into account. One of such applications is in Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS), VPLS is a widely used method of providing Ethernet-based Virtual Private Network that supports the connection of geographically separated sites into a single bridged domain over an IP/MPLS network. The popularity of VPLS among commercial and defense organizations underscores the need for robust security features to protect both data and control information. After investigating the different approaches to HIP, a real world testbed is implemented. Two experiment scenarios were evaluated, one is performed on two open source Linux-based HIP implementations (HIPL and OpenHIP) and the other on two sets of enterprise equipment from two different companies (Tempered Networks and Byres Security). To account for a heterogeneous mix of network types, the Open source HIP implementations were evaluated on different network environments, namely Local Area Network (LAN), Wireless LAN (WLAN), and Wide Area Network (WAN). Each scenario is tested and evaluated for performance in terms of throughput, latency, and jitter. The measurement results confirmed the assumption that no single solution is optimal in all considered aspects and scenarios. For instance, in the open source implementations, the performance penalty of security on TCP throughput for WLAN scenario is less in HIPL than in OpenHIP, while for WAN scenario the reverse is the case. A similar outcome is observed for the UDP throughput. However, on latency, HIPL showed lower latency for all three network test scenarios. For the legacy equipment experiment, the penalty of security on TCP throughput is about 19% compared with the non-secure scenario while latency is increased by about 87%. This work therefore provides viable information for researchers and decision makers on the optimal solution to securing their VPNs based on the application scenarios and the potential performance penalties that come with each approach.HIP-pohjaisten tietoliikenneverkkojen turvallisuusratkaisujen suorituskyvyn arviointi. Tiivistelmä. Koneen identiteettiprotokolla (HIP, Host Identity Protocol) on tietoliikenneverkkoteknologia, joka käyttää erillistä kerrosta kuljetusprotokollan ja Internet-protokollan (IP) välissä TCP/IP-protokollapinossa. HIP erottaa systemaattisesti IP-osoitteen verkko- ja laite-osat, sekä käyttää koneen identiteetti (HI) -osaa perustuen julkisen avainnuksen turvallisuusrakenteeseen. Tämän hyötyjä ovat esimerkiksi mobiliteetti, moniliittyminen, päästä päähän (end-to-end) turvallisuus, kontrolli-informaation ja datan erottelu, kohtaaminen, osoitteenmuutos sekä palomuurin turvallisuus. Teollisuudessa HIP-protokolla nähdään osana seuraavan sukupolven tietoliikenneverkkoja, vaikka se ei vielä olekaan yleistynyt laajaan kaupalliseen käyttöön. HIP–protokollaa voidaan käyttää paitsi erilaisissa HIP-tietoisissa, myös perinteisissä IP-osoitteeseen perustuvissa sovelluksissa ja verkkoteknologioissa. Eräs tällainen sovellus on virtuaalinen LAN-erillisverkko (VPLS), joka on laajasti käytössä oleva menetelmä Ethernet-pohjaisen, erillisten yksikköjen ja yhden sillan välistä yhteyttä tukevan, virtuaalisen erillisverkon luomiseen IP/MPLS-verkon yli. VPLS:n yleisyys sekä kaupallisissa- että puolustusorganisaatioissa korostaa vastustuskykyisten turvallisuusominaisuuksien tarpeellisuutta tiedon ja kontrolliinformaation suojauksessa. Tässä työssä tutkitaan aluksi HIP-protokollan erilaisia lähestymistapoja. Teoreettisen tarkastelun jälkeen käytännön testejä suoritetaan itse rakennetulla testipenkillä. Tarkasteltavat skenaariot ovat verrata Linux-pohjaisia avoimen lähdekoodin HIP-implementaatioita (HIPL ja OpenHIP) sekä verrata kahden eri valmistajan laitteita (Tempered Networks ja Byres Security). HIP-implementaatiot arvioidaan eri verkkoympäristöissä, jota ovat LAN, WLAN sekä WAN. Kaikki testatut tapaukset arvioidaan tiedonsiirtonopeuden, sen vaihtelun (jitter) sekä latenssin perusteella. Mittaustulokset osoittavat, että sama ratkaisu ei ole optimaalinen kaikissa tarkastelluissa tapauksissa. Esimerkiksi WLAN-verkkoa käytettäessä turvallisuuden aiheuttama häviö tiedonsiirtonopeudessa on HIPL:n tapauksessa OpenHIP:iä pirnempi, kun taas WAN-verkon tapauksessa tilanne on toisinpäin. Samanlaista käyttäytymistä havaitaan myös UDP-tiedonsiirtonopeudessa. HIPL antaa kuitenkin pienimmän latenssin kaikissa testiskenaarioissa. Eri valmistajien laitteita vertailtaessa huomataan, että TCP-tiedonsiirtonopeus huononee 19 ja latenssi 87 prosenttia verrattuna tapaukseen, jossa turvallisuusratkaisua ei käytetä. Näin ollen tämän työn tuottama tärkeä tieto voi auttaa alan toimijoita optimaalisen verkkoturvallisuusratkaisun löytämisessä VPN-pohjaisiin sovelluksiin

Secure Cloud Connectivity for Scientific Applications

Cloud computing improves utilization and flexibility in allocating computing resources while reducing the infrastructural costs. However, in many cases cloud technology is still proprietary and tainted by security issues rooted in the multi-user and hybrid cloud environment. A lack of secure connectivity in a hybrid cloud environment hinders the adaptation of clouds by scientific communities that require scaling-out of the local infrastructure using publicly available resources for large-scale experiments. In this article, we present a case study of the DII-HEP secure cloud infrastructure and propose an approach to securely scale-out a private cloud deployment to public clouds in order to support hybrid cloud scenarios. A challenge in such scenarios is that cloud vendors may offer varying and possibly incompatible ways to isolate and interconnect virtual machines located in different cloud networks. Our approach is tenant driven in the sense that the tenant provides its connectivity mechanism. We provide a qualitative and quantitative analysis of a number of alternatives to solve this problem. We have chosen one of the standardized alternatives, Host Identity Protocol, for further experimentation in a production system because it supports legacy applications in a topologically-independent and secure way.Peer reviewe

Concepção e implementação de experiências laboratoriais sobre MPLS

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrónica e TelecomunicaçõesO Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) é um mecanismo de transporte de dados, sob a forma de um protocolo agnóstico, com grande potencial de crescimento e adequação. Opera na “Camada 2.5” do modelo OSI e constitui um mecanismo de alto desempenho utilizado nas redes de núcleo para transportar dados de um nó da rede para outro. O sucesso do MPLS resulta do facto de permitir que a rede transporte todos os tipos de dados, desde tráfego IP a tráfego da camada de ligação de dados, devido ao encapsulamento dos pacotes dos diversos protocolos, permitindo a criação de “links virtuais” entre nós distantes. O MPLS pertence à família das “redes de comutação de pacotes”, sendo os pacotes de dados associados a “etiquetas” que determinam o seu encaminhamento, sem necessidade de examinar o conteúdo dos próprios pacotes. Isto permite a criação de circuitos “extremo-aextremo” através de qualquer tipo de rede de transporte e independentemente do protocolo de encaminhamento que é utilizado. O projecto do MPLS considera múltiplas tecnologias no sentido de prestar um serviço único de transporte de dados, tentando simultaneamente proporcionar capacidades de engenharia de tráfego e controlo “out-of-band”, uma característica muito atraente para uma implementação em grande escala. No fundo, o MPLS é uma forma de consolidar muitas redes IP dentro de uma única rede. Dada a importância desta tecnologia, é urgente desenvolver ferramentas que permitam entender melhor a sua complexidade. O MPLS corre normalmente nas redes de núcleo dos ISPs. No sentido de tornar o seu estudo viável, recorreu-se nesta dissertação à emulação para implementar cenários de complexidade adequada. Existem actualmente boas ferramentas disponíveis que permitem a recriação em laboratório de cenários bastante complicados. Contudo, a exigência computacional da emulação é proporcional à complexidade do projecto em questão, tornando-se rapidamente impossível de realizar numa única máquina. A computação distribuída ou a “Cloud Computing” são actualmente as abordagens mais adequadas e inovadoras apara a resolução deste problema. Esta dissertação tem como objectivo criar algumas experiências em laboratório que evidenciam aspectos relevantes da tecnologia MPLS, usando para esse efeito um emulador computacional, o Dynamips, impulsionado por generosas fontes computacionais disponibilizadas pela Amazon ec2. A utilização destas ferramentas de emulação permite testar cenários de rede e serviços reais em ambiente controlado, efectuando o debugging das suas configurações e optimizando o seu desempenho, antes de os colocar em funcionamento nas redes em operação.The Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a highly scalable and agnostic protocol to carry network data. Operating at "Layer 2.5" of the OSI model, MPLS is an highperformance mechanism that is used at the network backbone for conveying data from one network node to the next. The success of MPLS results from the fact that it enables the network to carry all kinds of traffic, ranging from IP to layer 2 traffic, since it encapsulates the packets of the diverse network protocols, allowing the creation of "virtual links" between distant nodes. MPLS belongs to the family of packet switched networks, where labels are assigned to data packets that are forwarded based on decisions that rely only on the label contents, without the need to examine the packets contents. This allows the creation of end-to-end circuits across any type of transport medium, using any protocol. The MPLS design takes multiform transport technologies into account to provide a unified data-carrying service, attempting simultaneously to preserve traffic engineering and out-of-band control, a very attractive characteristic for large-scale deployment. MPLS is the way to consolidate many IP networks into a single one. Due to this obvious potential, it is urgent to develop means and tools to better understand its functioning and complexity. MPLS normally runs at the backbone of Service Providers networks, being deployed across an extensive set of expensive equipment. In order to turn the study of MPLS feasible, emulation was considered as the best solution. Currently, there are very good available tools to recreate, in a lab environment, quite complicated scenarios. However, the computational demand of the emulation is proportional to the complexity of the project, becoming quickly unfeasible in a single machine. Fortunately, distributed computing or Cloud computing are suitable and novel approaches to solve this computation problem. So, this work aims to create some lab experiments that can illustrate/demonstrate relevant aspects of the MPLS technology, using the Dynamips emulator driven by the computational resources that were made available by the Amazon ec2 cloud computing facilities. The utilization of these emulation tools allows testing real networks and service scenarios in a controlled environment, being able to debug their configurations and optimize their performance before deploying them in real operating networks

MPLS layer 3 VPN

Trabalho final de mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia de Electrónica e TelecomunicaçõesMultiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is the principal technology used in Service Provider. Networks as this mechanism forwarding packet quickly. MPLS is a new way to increase the speed, capability and service supplying abilities for optimization of transmission resources. Service Provider networks use this technology to connect different remote sites. MPLS technology provides lower network delay, effective forwarding mechanism, ascendable and predictable performance of the services which makes it more appropriate for carry out real-time applications such as Voice and video. MPLS can be used to transport any type of data whether it is layer 2 data such as frame relay, Ethernet, ATM data etc. or layer 3 data such as IPV4, IPV6.Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) é a principal tecnologia usada no Service Provider. Redes como este mecanismo fazem o encaminhamento de pacotes de dados rapidamente. MPLS é uma nova maneira de aumentar a velocidade, a capacidades de fornecimento, a capacidade de serviço para otimização de recursos de transmissão. As redes Service Provider usam essa tecnologia para ligar diferentes sites remotos. A tecnologia MPLS oferece menor atraso de rede, mecanismo de encaminhamento eficaz, desempenho e serviços previsíveis o que o tornam mais apropriado para executar aplicativos em tempo real, como voz e vídeo. O MPLS pode ser usado para transportar qualquer tipo de dados, seja dados de camada 2, como frame relay, Ethernet, dados ATM, etc., ou dados da camada 3, como IPV4, IPV6.N/

Secure Naming and Addressing Operations for Store, Carry and Forward Networks

This paper describes concepts for secure naming and addressing directed at Store, Carry and Forward (SCF) distributed applications, where disconnection and intermittent connectivity between forwarding systems is the norm. The paper provides a brief overview of store, carry and forward distributed applications followed by an in depth discussion of how to securely: create a namespace; allocate names within the namespace; query for names known within a local processing system or connected subnetwork; validate ownership of a given name; authenticate data from a given name; and, encrypt data to a given name. Critical issues such as revocation of names, mobility and the ability to use various namespaces to secure operations or for Quality-of-Service are also presented. Although the concepts presented for naming and addressing have been developed for SCF, they are directly applicable to fully connected systems