306 research outputs found

    Network-wide Configuration Synthesis

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    Computer networks are hard to manage. Given a set of high-level requirements (e.g., reachability, security), operators have to manually figure out the individual configuration of potentially hundreds of devices running complex distributed protocols so that they, collectively, compute a compatible forwarding state. Not surprisingly, operators often make mistakes which lead to downtimes. To address this problem, we present a novel synthesis approach that automatically computes correct network configurations that comply with the operator's requirements. We capture the behavior of existing routers along with the distributed protocols they run in stratified Datalog. Our key insight is to reduce the problem of finding correct input configurations to the task of synthesizing inputs for a stratified Datalog program. To solve this synthesis task, we introduce a new algorithm that synthesizes inputs for stratified Datalog programs. This algorithm is applicable beyond the domain of networks. We leverage our synthesis algorithm to construct the first network-wide configuration synthesis system, called SyNET, that support multiple interacting routing protocols (OSPF and BGP) and static routes. We show that our system is practical and can infer correct input configurations, in a reasonable amount time, for networks of realistic size (> 50 routers) that forward packets for multiple traffic classes.Comment: 24 Pages, short version published in CAV 201

    Segment Routing: a Comprehensive Survey of Research Activities, Standardization Efforts and Implementation Results

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    Fixed and mobile telecom operators, enterprise network operators and cloud providers strive to face the challenging demands coming from the evolution of IP networks (e.g. huge bandwidth requirements, integration of billions of devices and millions of services in the cloud). Proposed in the early 2010s, Segment Routing (SR) architecture helps face these challenging demands, and it is currently being adopted and deployed. SR architecture is based on the concept of source routing and has interesting scalability properties, as it dramatically reduces the amount of state information to be configured in the core nodes to support complex services. SR architecture was first implemented with the MPLS dataplane and then, quite recently, with the IPv6 dataplane (SRv6). IPv6 SR architecture (SRv6) has been extended from the simple steering of packets across nodes to a general network programming approach, making it very suitable for use cases such as Service Function Chaining and Network Function Virtualization. In this paper we present a tutorial and a comprehensive survey on SR technology, analyzing standardization efforts, patents, research activities and implementation results. We start with an introduction on the motivations for Segment Routing and an overview of its evolution and standardization. Then, we provide a tutorial on Segment Routing technology, with a focus on the novel SRv6 solution. We discuss the standardization efforts and the patents providing details on the most important documents and mentioning other ongoing activities. We then thoroughly analyze research activities according to a taxonomy. We have identified 8 main categories during our analysis of the current state of play: Monitoring, Traffic Engineering, Failure Recovery, Centrally Controlled Architectures, Path Encoding, Network Programming, Performance Evaluation and Miscellaneous...Comment: SUBMITTED TO IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS & TUTORIAL

    Optimization in Telecommunication Networks

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    Network design and network synthesis have been the classical optimization problems intelecommunication for a long time. In the recent past, there have been many technologicaldevelopments such as digitization of information, optical networks, internet, and wirelessnetworks. These developments have led to a series of new optimization problems. Thismanuscript gives an overview of the developments in solving both classical and moderntelecom optimization problems.We start with a short historical overview of the technological developments. Then,the classical (still actual) network design and synthesis problems are described with anemphasis on the latest developments on modelling and solving them. Classical results suchas Menger’s disjoint paths theorem, and Ford-Fulkerson’s max-flow-min-cut theorem, butalso Gomory-Hu trees and the Okamura-Seymour cut-condition, will be related to themodels described. Finally, we describe recent optimization problems such as routing andwavelength assignment, and grooming in optical networks.operations research and management science;

    Aspects of proactive traffic engineering in IP networks

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    To deliver a reliable communication service over the Internet it is essential for the network operator to manage the traffic situation in the network. The traffic situation is controlled by the routing function which determines what path traffic follows from source to destination. Current practices for setting routing parameters in IP networks are designed to be simple to manage. This can lead to congestion in parts of the network while other parts of the network are far from fully utilized. In this thesis we explore issues related to optimization of the routing function to balance load in the network and efficiently deliver a reliable communication service to the users. The optimization takes into account not only the traffic situation under normal operational conditions, but also traffic situations that appear under a wide variety of circumstances deviating from the nominal case. In order to balance load in the network knowledge of the traffic situations is needed. Consequently, in this thesis we investigate methods for efficient derivation of the traffic situation. The derivation is based on estimation of traffic demands from link load measurements. The advantage of using link load measurements is that they are easily obtained and consist of a limited amount of data that need to be processed. We evaluate and demonstrate how estimation based on link counts gives the operator a fast and accurate description of the traffic demands. For the evaluation we have access to a unique data set of complete traffic demands from an operational IP backbone. However, to honor service level agreements at all times the variability of the traffic needs to be accounted for in the load balancing. In addition, optimization techniques are often sensitive to errors and variations in input data. Hence, when an optimized routing setting is subjected to real traffic demands in the network, performance often deviate from what can be anticipated from the optimization. Thus, we identify and model different traffic uncertainties and describe how the routing setting can be optimized, not only for a nominal case, but for a wide range of different traffic situations that might appear in the network. Our results can be applied in MPLS enabled networks as well as in networks using link state routing protocols such as the widely used OSPF and IS-IS protocols. Only minor changes may be needed in current networks to implement our algorithms. The contributions of this thesis is that we: demonstrate that it is possible to estimate the traffic matrix with acceptable precision, and we develop methods and models for common traffic uncertainties to account for these uncertainties in the optimization of the routing configuration. In addition, we identify important properties in the structure of the traffic to successfully balance uncertain and varying traffic demands
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