Recursive internetwork architecture, investigating RINA as an alternative to TCP/IP (IRATI)

Driven by the requirements of the emerging applications and networks, the Internet has become an architectural patchwork of growing complexity which strains to cope with the changes. Moore’s law prevented us from recognising that the problem does not hide in the high demands of today’s applications but lies in the flaws of the Internet’s original design. The Internet needs to move beyond TCP/IP to prosper in the long term, TCP/IP has outlived its usefulness. The Recursive InterNetwork Architecture (RINA) is a new Internetwork architecture whose fundamental principle is that networking is only interprocess communication (IPC). RINA reconstructs the overall structure of the Internet, forming a model that comprises a single repeating layer, the DIF (Distributed IPC Facility), which is the minimal set of components required to allow distributed IPC between application processes. RINA supports inherently and without the need of extra mechanisms mobility, multi-homing and Quality of Service, provides a secure and configurable environment, motivates for a more competitive marketplace and allows for a seamless adoption. RINA is the best choice for the next generation networks due to its sound theory, simplicity and the features it enables. IRATI’s goal is to achieve further exploration of this new architecture. IRATI will advance the state of the art of RINA towards an architecture reference model and specifcations that are closer to enable implementations deployable in production scenarios. The design and implemention of a RINA prototype on top of Ethernet will permit the experimentation and evaluation of RINA in comparison to TCP/IP. IRATI will use the OFELIA testbed to carry on its experimental activities. Both projects will benefit from the collaboration. IRATI will gain access to a large-scale testbed with a controlled network while OFELIA will get a unique use-case to validate the facility: experimentation of a non-IP based Internet

Prototyping the recursive internet architecture: the IRATI project approach

In recent years, many new Internet architectures are being proposed to solve shortcomings in the current Internet. A lot of these new architectures merely extend the current TCP/IP architecture and hence do not solve the fundamental cause of these problems. The Recursive Internet Architecture (RINA) is a true new network architecture, developed from scratch, building on lessons learned in the past. RINA prototyping efforts have been ongoing since 2010, but a prototype on which a commercial RINA implementation can be built has not been developed yet. The goal of the IRATI research project is to develop and evaluate such a prototype in Linux/OS. This article focuses on the software design required to implement a network stack in Linux/OS. We motivate the placement of, and communication between, the different software components in either the kernel or user space. The first open source prototype of the IRATI implementation of RINA will be available in June 2014 for researchers, developers, and early adopters

Managing NFV using SDN and control theory

Control theory and SDN (Software Defined Networking) are key components for NFV (Network Function Virtualization) deployment. However little has been done to use a control-theoretic approach for SDN and NFV management. In this paper, we describe a use case for NFV management using control theory and SDN. We use the management architecture of RINA (a clean-slate Recursive InterNetwork Architecture) to manage Virtual Network Function (VNF) instances over the GENI testbed. We deploy Snort, an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) as the VNF. Our network topology has source and destination hosts, multiple IDSes, an Open vSwitch (OVS) and an OpenFlow controller. A distributed management application running on RINA measures the state of the VNF instances and communicates this information to a Proportional Integral (PI) controller, which then provides load balancing information to the OpenFlow controller. The latter controller in turn updates traffic flow forwarding rules on the OVS switch, thus balancing load across the VNF instances. This paper demonstrates the benefits of using such a control-theoretic load balancing approach and the RINA management architecture in virtualized environments for NFV management. It also illustrates that GENI can easily support a wide range of SDN and NFV related experiments

Application-driven network management with ProtoRINA

Traditional network management is tied to the TCP/IP architecture, thus it inherits its many limitations, e.g., static management and one-size-fits-all structure. Additionally there is no unified framework for application management, and service (application) providers have to rely on their own ad-hoc mechanisms to manage their application services. The Recursive InterNetwork Architecture (RINA) is our solution to achieve better network management. RINA provides a unified framework for application-driven network management along with built-in mechanisms (including registration, authentication, enrollment, addressing, etc.), and it allows the dynamic formation of secure communication containers for service providers in support of various requirements. In this paper, we focus on how application-driven network management can be achieved over the GENI testbed using ProtoRINA, a user-space prototype of RINA. We demonstrate how video can be efficiently multicast to many clients on demand by dynamically creating a delivery tree. Under RINA, multicast can be enabled through a secure communication container that is dynamically formed to support video transport either through application proxies or via relay IPC processes. Experimental results over the GENI testbed show that application-driven network management enabled by ProtoRINA can achieve better network and application performance.National Science Foundation (NSF grant CNS-0963974)

Deep Space Network information system architecture study

The purpose of this article is to describe an architecture for the Deep Space Network (DSN) information system in the years 2000-2010 and to provide guidelines for its evolution during the 1990s. The study scope is defined to be from the front-end areas at the antennas to the end users (spacecraft teams, principal investigators, archival storage systems, and non-NASA partners). The architectural vision provides guidance for major DSN implementation efforts during the next decade. A strong motivation for the study is an expected dramatic improvement in information-systems technologies, such as the following: computer processing, automation technology (including knowledge-based systems), networking and data transport, software and hardware engineering, and human-interface technology. The proposed Ground Information System has the following major features: unified architecture from the front-end area to the end user; open-systems standards to achieve interoperability; DSN production of level 0 data; delivery of level 0 data from the Deep Space Communications Complex, if desired; dedicated telemetry processors for each receiver; security against unauthorized access and errors; and highly automated monitor and control

A review of personal communications services

This article can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2009 Nova Science Publishers, LtdPCS is an acronym for Personal Communications Service. PCS has two layers of meaning. At the low layer, from the technical perspective, PCS is a 2G mobile communication technology operating at the 1900 MHz frequency range. At the upper layer, PCS is often used as an umbrella term that includes various wireless access and personal mobility services with the ultimate goal of enabling users to freely communicate with anyone at anytime and anywhere according to their demand. Ubiquitous PCS can be implemented by integrating the wireless and wireline systems on the basis of intelligent network (IN), which provides network functions of terminal and personal mobility. In this chapter, we focus on various aspects of PCS except location management. First we describe the motivation and technological evolution for personal communications. Then we introduce three key issues related to PCS: spectrum allocation, mobility, and standardization efforts. Since PCS involves several different communication technologies, we introduce its heterogeneous and distributed system architecture. IN is also described in detail because it plays a critical role in the development of PCS. Finally, we introduce the application of PCS and its deployment status since the mid-term of 1990’s.This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 60673159 and 70671020; the National High-Tech Research and Development Plan of China under Grant No. 2006AA01Z214, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of UK under Grant EP/E060722/1

Ambient networks: Bridging heterogeneous network domains

Providing end-to-end communication in heterogeneous internetworking environments is a challenge. Two fundamental problems are bridging between different internetworking technologies and hiding of network complexity and differences from both applications and application developers. This paper presents abstraction and naming mechanisms that address these challenges in the Ambient Networks project. Connectivity abstractions hide the differences of heterogeneous internetworking technologies and enable applications to operate across them. A common naming framework enables end-to-end communication across otherwise independent internetworks and supports advanced networking capabilities, such as indirection or delegation, through dynamic bindings between named entities

Recursive quantum repeater networks

Internet-scale quantum repeater networks will be heterogeneous in physical technology, repeater functionality, and management. The classical control necessary to use the network will therefore face similar issues as Internet data transmission. Many scalability and management problems that arose during the development of the Internet might have been solved in a more uniform fashion, improving flexibility and reducing redundant engineering effort. Quantum repeater network development is currently at the stage where we risk similar duplication when separate systems are combined. We propose a unifying framework that can be used with all existing repeater designs. We introduce the notion of a Quantum Recursive Network Architecture, developed from the emerging classical concept of 'recursive networks', extending recursive mechanisms from a focus on data forwarding to a more general distributed computing request framework. Recursion abstracts independent transit networks as single relay nodes, unifies software layering, and virtualizes the addresses of resources to improve information hiding and resource management. Our architecture is useful for building arbitrary distributed states, including fundamental distributed states such as Bell pairs and GHZ, W, and cluster states.Comment: 14 page

Adaptive management of an active services network

The benefits of active services and networks cannot be realised unless the associated increase in system complexity can be efficiently managed. An adaptive management solution is required. Simulation results show that a distributed genetic algorithm, inspired by observations of bacterial communities, can offer many key management functions. The algorithm is fast and efficient, even when the demand for network services is rapidly varying

Exploiting Traffic Balancing and Multicast Efficiency in Distributed Video-on-Demand Architectures

Distributed Video-on-Demand (DVoD) systems are proposed as a solution to the limited streaming capacity and null scalability of centralized systems. In a previous work, we proposed a fully distributed large-scale VoD architecture, called Double P-Tree, which has shown itself to be a good approach to the design of flexible and scalable DVoD systems. In this paper, we present relevant design aspects related to video mapping and traffic balancing in order to improve Double P-Tree architecture performance. Our simulation results demonstrate that these techniques yield a more efficient system and considerably increase its streaming capacity. The results also show the crucial importance of topology connectivity in improving multicasting performance in DVoD systems. Finally, a comparison among several DVoD architectures was performed using simulation, and the results show that the Double P-Tree architecture incorporating mapping and load balancing policies outperforms similar DVoD architectures.This work was supported by the MCyT-Spain under contract TIC 2001-2592 and partially supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya- Grup de Recerca Consolidat 2001SGR-00218