George Varghese

Multiway range trees: scalable IP lookup with fast updates

In this paper, we introduce a new IP lookup scheme with worst-case search and update time of O(log n), where n is the number of prefixes in the forwarding table. Our scheme is based on a new data structure, a multiway range tree. While existing lookup schemes are good for IPv4, they do not scale well in both lookup speed and update costs when addresses grow longer as in the IPv6 proposal. Thus our lookup scheme is the first lookup scheme to offer fast lookups and updates for IPv6 while remaining competitive for IPv4.

Self-stabilization by local checking and global reset

We describe a method for transforming asynchronous network protocols into protocols that can sustain any transient fault, i.e., become self-stabilizing. We combine the known notion of local checking with a new notion of internal reset, and prove that given any self-stabilizing internal reset protocol, any locally-checkable protocol can be made self-stabilizing. Our proof is constructive in the sense that we provide explicit code. The method applies to many practical network problems, including spanning tree construction, topology update, and virtual circuit setup.

Redesigning the BSD Callout and Timer Facilities

We describe a new implementation of the BSD callout and timer facilities. Current BSD kernels take time proportional to the number of outstanding timers to set or cancel timers. Our implementation takes constant time to start, stop, and maintain timers; this leads to a highly scalable design that can support thousands of outstanding timers without much overhead. Unlike the existing implementation, our routines are guaranteed to lock out interrupts only for a small, bounded amount of time. We also extend the setitimer() interface to allow a process to have multiple outstanding timers, thereby reducing the need for users to... Read complete abstract on page 2.

Redesigning the BSD timer facilities

We describe a reimplementation of the BSD timer facilities. Older BSD kernels take time proportional to the number of outstanding timers to set or cancel timers. Our implementation (in NetBSD) takes constant time to start, stop, and maintain timers; this leads to a highly scalable design that can support thousands of outstanding timers without much overhead. Unlike the existing implementation, our routines are guaranteed to lock out interrupts only for a small, bounded amount of time. We also extend the setitimer() interface to allow a process to have multiple outstanding timers, thereby reducing the need for users to maintain their own timer packages. The changes to the kernel are small (548 lines of code added, 80 removed) and are available on the World Wide Web.

An Algorithm for Message Delivery in a Micromobility Environment

With recent advances in wireless communication and the ubiquity of laptops, mobile computing has become an important research area. An essential problem in mobile computing is the delivery of a message from a source to either a single mobile node, unicast, or to a group of mobile nodes, multicast. Standard solutions proposed for macromobility (Mobile IP) and micromobility (cellular phones) for the unicast problem rely on tracking the mobile node. Tracking solutions scale badly when mobile nodes move frequently, and do not generalize well to multicast delivery. Our paper proposes a new message delivery algorithm for micromobility based on... Read complete abstract on page 2.

Search and Tracking Algorithms for Rapidly Moving Mobiles

With the advent of wireless technology and laptops, mobility is an important area of research. A fundamental problem in this area is the delivery of messages to a moving mobile. Current solutions work correctly only for slowly moving nodes that stay in one location long enough for tracking to stabilize. In this paper we consider the problem of message delivery to rapidly moving mobile units. With these algorithms, we introduce a new method for designing algorithms based on the paradigm of considering a mobile unit as a message, and adapting traditional message passing algorithms to mobility. Our first algorithm... Read complete abstract on page 2.