Michael E. Kounavis

A survey of programmable networks

In this paper we present a programmable networking model that provides a common framework for understanding the state-of-the-art in programmable networks. A number of projects are reviewed and discussed against a set of programmable network characteristics. We believe that a number of important innovations are creating a paradigm shift in networking leading to higher levels of network programmability. These innovations include the separation between transmission hardware and control software, availability of open programmable network interfaces, accelerated virtualization of networking infrastructure, rapid creation and deployment of new network services and environments for resource partitioning and coexistence of multiple distinct network architectures. We present a simple qualitative comparison of the surveyed work and make a number of observations about the direction of the field.

The mobiware toolkit: programmable support for adaptive mobile networking

Existing mobile systems (e.g., mobile IP, mobile ATM, and third-generation cellular systems) lack the intrinsic architectural flexibility to deal with the complexity of supporting adaptive mobile applications in wireless and mobile environments. We believe that there is a need to develop alternative network architectures from the existing ones to deal with the tremendous demands placed on underlying mobile signaling, adaptation management, and wireless transport systems in support of new mobile services (e.g., interactive multimedia and Web access). We present the design, implementation, and evaluation of mobiware, a mobile middleware toolkit that enables adaptive mobile services to dynamically exploit the intrinsic scalable properties of mobile multimedia applications in response to time-varying mobile network conditions. The mobiware toolkit is software-intensive and is built on CORBA and Java distributed object technology. Based on an open programmable paradigm developed by the COMET Group, mobiware runs on mobile devices, wireless access points, and mobile-capable switch/routers providing a set of open programmable interfaces and algorithms for adaptive mobile networking.

Directions in Packet Classification for Network Processors

Publisher Summary Network processors are generally configured with only a small amount of memory with limited access bandwidth. A key challenge is to design packet classification algorithms that can be implemented efficiently on network processor platforms. The design of such algorithms needs to exploit the structure and characteristics of packet classification rules. This chapter analyzes several databases of classification rules found in firewalls and derived their statistical properties. The rules found in access control lists (ACL) contain two types of fields, and these rules refer to many more network paths than applications. IP address pairs identify regions that overlap with one another. Only a small number of transport-level fields are sufficient to characterize ACLs of different sizes. Based on the findings, a hybrid, two-stage classification architecture is suggested.

Managing complexity: middleware explained

Traditionally, most definitions seeking to characterize middleware suggest that it is the software that facilitates remote database access and systems transactions. More recently, the term has come to be associated-somewhat limitingly-with distributed platforms such as the Open Software Foundations Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) and the Object Management Groups Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA). And some have loosely applied it to systems as diverse as workflow support environments and even to the Web itself. We believe the essential role of middleware is to manage the complexity and heterogeneity of distributed infrastructures and thereby provide a simpler programming environment for distributed-application developers. It is therefore most useful to define middleware as any software layer that is placed above the distributed systems infrastructure-the network OS and APIs-and below the application layer.

The Genesis Kernel: a programming system for spawning network architectures

Currently, the design, deployment, and refinement of new network architectures is a manual, ad hoc, and time-consuming process. We present the design, implementation, and evaluation of the Genesis Kernel, a programming system that automates the life cycle process for the creation, deployment, management, and architecting of network architectures. We discuss our experiences in building a spawning network that is capable of creating distinct virtual network architectures on-demand. The Genesis Kernel is based on a methodology that allows a child virtual network to operate on top of a subset of its parents network resources and in isolation from other spawned virtual networks. We show through experimentation how a number of diverse network architectures can be spawned and architecturally refined. These spawned network architectures include a parent network that supports IP forwarding, and interior and exterior routing. We discuss how two child networks based on Cellular IP and Mobiware architectures can be spawned on the parent network to support wireless access to data and continuous media services, respectively.

NetBind: a binding tool for constructing data paths in network processor-based routers

There is growing interest in network processor technologies capable of processing packets at line rates. In this paper, we present the design, implementation and evaluation of NetBind, a high performance, flexible and scalable binding tool for dynamically constructing data paths in network processor-based routers. The methodology that underpins NetBind balances the flexibility of network programmability against the need to process and forward packets at line speeds. Data paths constructed using NetBind seamlessly share the resources of the same network processor. We compare the performance of NetBind to the MicroACE system developed by Intel to support binding between software components running on Intel IXP1200 network processors. We evaluate these alternative approaches in terms of their binding overhead, and discuss how this can affect the forwarding performance of IPv4 data paths running on IXP1200 network processor-based routers. We show that NetBind provides better performance in comparison to MicroACE with smaller binding overhead. The NetBind source code described and evaluated in this paper is freely available on the Web (comet.columbia.edu/genesis/netbind) for experimentation.

Active filters: delivering scaled media to mobile devices

Delivering hard quality of service (QoS) guarantees to audio and video flows in the wireless domain is difficult due to large-scale mobility requirements, limited radio resources and QoS fluctuating network conditions. To address this challenge we are developing a QoS-aware middleware platform called mobiware which supports adaptive multimedia applications operating over combined wireline and wireless networks. Mobiware takes as its primary design goal the transport and seamless delivery of audio and video flows to mobile devices with a smooth change of perceptual quality during periods of QoS fluctuation and handoff. Mobiware achieves this goal through the introduction of active filters which can be dispatched during handoff to strategic points in the network (e.g., base stations) to provide media scaling of audio and video flows when and where needed.

Programmable mobile networks

Existing mobile systems (e.g., mobile IP, mobile ATM and third generation cellular systems) lack the intrinsic architectural flexibility to deal with the complexity of supporting adaptive mobile applications in wireless and mobile environments. We believe that there is a need to develop alternative network architectures from the existing ones to deal with the demands placed on underlying mobile signalling, adaptation management and wireless transport systems in support of new mobile services, e.g. interactive multimedia and web access. In this paper we present the design, implementation and evaluation of mobiware, a middleware technology that enables the introduction of new services in mobile networks. Mobiware provides a toolkit that service providers can utilize to build services that can dynamically exploit the intrinsic scalable properties of mobile multimedia applications in response to time-varying mobile network conditions. Based on an open programmable networking paradigm, mobiware runs on mobile devices, wireless access points and mobile-capable switch/routers providing a set of open programmable interfaces and distributed objects for adaptive mobile networking. Mobiware is software-intensive and is built on CORBA and Java distributed object technologies. The source code for mobiware v1.0 is freely available (comet.columbia.edu/mobiware) for experimentation.

Programming Internet Quality of Service

The deployment for new Internet services is limited by existing service creation platforms which can be characterized as closed, vertical and best effort in nature. We believe there is a need to develop a programmable Internet built on a foundation of open service interfaces and middleware technologies. To help speed the introduction of value-added services, we propose a unified, programmable Quality of Service (QoS) API framework based on the IEEE P1520 Reference Model fostering open, standard interfaces for networks. We argue that this is a necessary evolutionary step towards a QoS-flexible, Internet service platform. We propose the design of APIs for upper level network QoS be based on service-dependent and service-independent abstractions, supporting alternative styles of QoS specifications and provisioning. Additionally, we propose the design of low-level network element APIs be based on the notion of a building block hierarchy and the separation of service-specific and resource abstractions for the creation and deployment of network services.