Noa Zilberman

NetFPGA SUME: Toward 100 Gbps as Research Commodity

The demand-led growth of datacenter networks has meant that many constituent technologies are beyond the research communitys budget. NetFPGA SUME is an FPGA-based PCI Express board with I/O capabilities for 100 Gbps operation as a network interface card, multiport switch, firewall, or test and measurement environment. NetFPGA SUME provides an accessible development environment that both reuses existing codebases and enables new designs.

A Geolocation Databases Study

The geographical location of Internet IP addresses is important for academic research, commercial and homeland security applications. Thus, both commercial and academic databases and tools are available for mapping IP addresses to geographic locations. Evaluating the accuracy of these mapping services is complex since obtaining diverse large scale ground truth is very hard. In this work we evaluate mapping services using an algorithm that groups IP addresses to PoPs, based on structure and delay. This way we are able to group close to 100,000 IP addresses world wide into groups that are known to share a geo-location with high confidence. We provide insight into the strength and weaknesses of IP geolocation databases, and discuss their accuracy and encountered anomalies.

A structural approach for PoP geo-location

Inferring PoP level maps is gaining interest due to its importance to many areas, e.g., for tracking the Internet evolution and studying its properties. In this paper we introduce a novel structural approach to automatically generate large scale PoP level maps using traceroute measurement from multiple locations. The PoPs are first identified based on their structure, and then are assigned a location using collaborated information from several geo-location databases. Using this approach, we could evaluate the accuracy of these databases and suggest means to improve it. The PoP-PoP edges, which are extracted from the traceroutes, present a fairly rich AS-AS connectivity map.

OSNT: Open Source Network Tester

Despite network monitoring and testing being critical for computer networks, current solutions are both extremely expensive and inflexible. Into this lacuna we launch the Open Source Network Tester, a fully open source traffic generator and capture system. Our prototype implementation on the NetFPGA-10G supports 4 × 10 Gb/s traffic generation across all packet sizes, and traffic capture is supported up to 2 × 10Gb/s with naïve host software. Our system implementation provides methods for scaling and coordinating multiple generator/capture systems, and supports 6.25 ns timestamp resolution with clock drift and phase coordination maintained by GPS input. Additionally, our approach has demonstrated lower-cost than comparable commercial systems while achieving comparable levels of precision and accuracy; all within an open-source framework extensible with new features to support new applications, while permitting validation and review of the implementation.

A Structural Approach for PoP Geo-Location

Inferring PoP level maps is gaining interest due to its importance to many areas, e.g., for tracking the Internet evolution and studying its properties. In this paper we introduce a novel structural approach to automatically generate large scale PoP level maps using traceroute measurement from multiple locations. The PoPs are first identified based on their structure, and then are assigned a location using collaborated information from several geo-location databases. Using this approach, we could evaluate the accuracy of these databases and suggest means to improve it. The PoP-PoP edges, which are extracted from the traceroutes, present a fairly rich AS-AS connectivity map.

Reconfigurable Network Systems and Software-Defined Networking

Modern high-speed networks have evolved from relatively static networks to highly adaptive networks facilitating dynamic reconfiguration. This evolution has influenced all levels of network design and management, introducing increased programmability and configuration flexibility. This influence has extended from the lowest level of physical hardware interfaces to the highest level of network management by software. A key representative of this evolution is the emergence of software-defined networking (SDN). In this paper, we review the current state of the art in reconfigurable network systems, covering hardware reconfiguration, SDN, and the interplay between them. We take a top-down approach, starting with a tutorial on software-defined networks. We then continue to discuss programming languages as the linking element between different levels of software and hardware in the network. We review electronic switching systems, highlighting programmability and reconfiguration aspects, and describe the trends in reconfigurable network elements. Finally, we describe the state of the art in the integration of photonic transceiver and switching elements with electronic technologies, and consider the implications for SDN and reconfigurable network systems.

Detecting pedophile activity in bittorrent networks

The wide spread of Peer-to-Peer networks makes multimedia files available to users all around the world. However, Peer-to-Peer networks are often used to spread illegal material, while keeping the source of the data and the acquiring users anonymous. In this paper we analyze activity measurements in the BitTorrent network and examine child sex abuse activity through the Mininova web portal. We detect and characterize pedophilic material in the network, and also analyze different aspects of the abusers activity. We hope our results will help law enforcement teams detecting child molesters and tracking them down earlier.

An analysis of the Steam community network evolution

The Steam community network is a large social network of players on the Steam gaming platform, with over 30 million users to date. In this paper we introduce an analysis of the Steam community network in 2011, looking at the characteristics of the users network and the connectivity graph. We next present the evolution of the network over time and show how the network has changed over the years. Last, we analyze the role of games and groups in the Steam community. This work is the first to analyze the Steam network, and to provide a large scale analysis of the characteristics of gaming platforms communities.

Geographical internet pop level maps

We introduce DIMESs geographical Internet PoP-level connectivity maps, created using a structural approach to automatically generate at world scale. We provide preliminary results of the algorithm and discuss the properties of the generated maps as well as their global spread.

Predicting Billboard Success Using Data-Mining in P2P Networks

Peer to Peer networks are the leading cause for music piracy but also used for music sampling prior to purchase. In this paper we investigate the relations between music file sharing and sales (both physical and digital)using large Peer-to-Peer query database information. We compare file sharing information on songs to their popularity on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Digital Songs charts, and show that popularity trends of songs on the Billboard have very strong correlation (0.88-0.89) to their popularity on a Peer-to-Peer network. We then show how this correlation can be utilized by common data mining algorithms to predict a songs success in the Billboard in advance, using Peer-to-Peer information.