Heath Robinson's Network Installation Project

Heath Robinson's Network Installation Project



Heath Robinson's Network Installation Project

Introduction

Traditionally, networks have been founded on fixed protocols, which govern the way data is processed at each intermediate node of the network, between origin and destination. Active networks have introduced a new paradigm in which applications can influence the way their data is handled, by injecting active code into the network nodes. This has been proposed as a way to deploy custom mechanisms for special purposes, and to allow easier deployment of new protocols.

The bulk of work done in the active networks area has concentrated on what these capsules can do in a very limited domain, and with very static nodes.

In this paper, we present a more broad based look at active networks than normally considered, by providing an architecture that provides a dynamic environment to both active code and to the nodes they run on. This allows for the normal benefits of an active network, such as flexibility for end applications through crafted active code, as well as one of the much touted goals of active networking, dynamic service installation.

The model for dynamic service installation presented allows easy deployment of new network protocols as they become needed, and provides fine-grained control of the network not normally available. Typically, active network architectures have allowed active code to call select predicates, or supply their own, but in this model the node OS can be dynamically changed, making true protocol deployment achievable.

Presented is a new active networking architecture called PANTS along with information about its implementation. Bandwidth sharing is also introduced as an example of a network service that one may want to install in a network. An implementation of an active networking bandwidth reservation scheme is examined as a case study of dynamic service installation.

This work attempts to explore the ideas of dynamic installation of network services and dynamic upgradability of the node OS as areas of importance to active networks in Heath Robinson.

Heath Robinson's Network Installation Project

Active networks

Active networks are a relatively new paradigm in which computation is moved into the network layer. In an active network as a packet flows from switch to switch it can have code associated with it executed on the switches, and this execution can change the contents of the packet, allowing the packet to meet changing needs. Packets can still carry data payloads to a destination, but they can do it with more flexibility. Packets can also interrogate nodes on the network as they get passed from switch to switch, and thereby collect and make use of information that is hard to use effectively in a conventional (data transport, fixed-protocol network).

Active networks provide solutions to several problems of more traditional networks. Current major networks, particularly the Internet, have great difficulty deploying new protocols that may be more efficient, or provide greater features than currently used; they are slow to adapt to new technologies; and they have multiple levels of redundancy over several protocol layers leading to ...