Christian Jacquenet

A management and control architecture for providing IP differentiated services in MPLS-based networks

As the Internet evolves toward the global multiservice network of the future, a key consideration is support for services with guaranteed quality of service. The proposed differentiated services framework is seen as the key technology to achieve this. DiffServ currently concentrates on control/data plane mechanisms to support QoS, but also recognizes the need for management plane aspects through the bandwidth broker. In this article we propose a model and architectural framework for supporting DiffServ-based end-to-end QoS in the Internet, assuming underlying MPLS-based explicit routed paths. The proposed integrated management and control architecture will allow providers to offer both quantitative and qualitative services while optimizing the use of underlying network resources.

An architectural framework for providing QoS in IP differentiated services networks

As the Internet evolves, a key consideration is support for services with guaranteed quality of service (QoS). The proposed differentiated services (DiffServ) framework, which supports aggregate traffic classes, is seen as the key technology to achieve this. DiffServ currently concentrates on control/data plane mechanisms to support QoS but also recognises the need for management plane aspects through the bandwidth broker (BB). In this paper we propose a model and architectural framework for supporting end-to-end QoS in the Internet through a combination of both management and control/data plane aspects. Within the network we consider control mechanisms for traffic engineering (TE) based both on explicitly routed paths and on pure node-by-node layer 3 routing. Management aspects include customer interfacing for service level specification (SLS) negotiation, network dimensioning, traffic forecasting and dynamic resource and routing management. All these are policy-driven in order to allow for the specification of high-level management directives. Many of the functional blocks of our architectural model are also features of BBs, the main difference being that a BB is seen as driven purely by customer requests whereas, in our approach, TE functions are continually aiming at optimising the network configuration and its performance. As such, we substantiate the notion of the BB and propose an integrated management and control architecture that will allow providers to offer both qualitative and quantitative QoS-based services while optimising the use of underlying network resources.

Internet traffic engineering

Traffic engineering encompasses a set of techniques that can be used to control the flow of traffic in data networks. We discuss several of those techniques that have been developed during the last few years. Some techniques are focused on pure IP networks while others have been designed with emerging technologies for scalable Quality of Service (QoS) such as Differentiated Services and MPLS in mind. We first discuss traffic engineering techniques inside a single domain. We show that by using a non-linear programming formulation of the traffic engineering problem it is possible to meet the requirements of demanding customer traffic, while optimising the use of network resources, through the means of an automated provisioning system. We also extend the functionality of the traffic engineering system through policies. In the following, we discuss the techniques that can be used to control the flow of packets between domains. First, we briefly describe interdomain routing and the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). Second, we summarise the characteristics of interdomain traffic based on measurements with two different Internet Service Providers. We show by simulations the limitations of several BGP-based traffic engineering techniques that are currently used on the Internet. Then, we discuss the utilisation of BGP to exchange QoS information between domains by using the QOS_NLRI attribute to allow BGP to select more optimum paths. Finally, we consider the multi-homing problem and analyse the current proposed IPv6 multi-homing solutions are analysed along with their impact on communication quality.

From the Guest Editors: IPTV in Multimedia Broadcasting

This special issue is a collection of recent innovative research results, albeit inevitably limited, on most aspects of IPTV in multimedia broadcasting, including architectural standardization, content protection, quality of service and quality of experience, middleware, content consumption measurement, application and content platform, as well as network control, etc. There are 21 articles in this issue.

Handbook of Research on Redesigning the Future of Internet Architectures

As the volume of global Internet traffic increases, the Internet is beginning to suffer from a broad spectrum of performance-degrading infrastructural limitations that threaten to jeopardize the continued growth of new, innovative services. In answer to this challenge, computer scientists seek to maintain the original design principles of the Internet while allowing for a more dynamic approach to the manner in which networks are designed and operated.The Handbook of Research on Redesigning the Future of Internet Architectures covers some of the hottest topics currently being debated by the Internet community at large, including Internet governance, privacy issues, service delivery automation, advanced networking schemes, and new approaches to Internet traffic-forwarding and path-computation mechanics. Targeting students, network-engineers, and technical strategists, this book seeks to provide a broad and comprehensive look at the next wave of revolutionary ideas poised to reshape the very foundation of the Internet as we know it.

Service Automation and Dynamic Provisioning Techniques in IP/MPLS Environments: Jacquenet/Service Automation and Dynamic Provisioning Techniques in IP/MPLS Environments

1 Introduction PART I - ARCHITECTURES AND PROTOCOLS FOR SERVICE AUTOMATION AND APPLICATION EXAMPLES OF SERVICE AUTOMATION AND DYNAMIC RESOURCE PROVISIONING TECHNIQUES 2 What is a policy? 3 The Radius Protocol and its Extensions 4 The Diameter Protocol 5 The Common Open Policy Service (COPS) Protocol 6 NETCONF 7 Control and Provisioning of Wireless Access Points (CAPWAP) PART II - DYNAMIC RESOURCE PROVISIONING TECHNIQUES 8 Dynamic Enforcement of QoS Policies 9 Dynamic Enforcement of IP Traffic Engineering Policies in IP/MPLS Infrastructures 10 Automated Production of BGP/MPLS-Based VPN Networks 11 Dynamic Enforcement of Security Policies in IP/MPLS Environments 12 Future Challenges Appendices A XML Schema for NETCONF RPCS and Operations B XML Schema for NETCONF Notifications C Example of an IP Traffic Engineering Policy Information Base (IP TE PIB) D Example of an IP TE Accounting PIB E Description of Classes of an IP VPN Information Model Index