Network research
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The document discusses network research projects led by various academics, focusing on advancements in programmable networking and the use of Raspberry Pi clusters for distributed testing. It highlights specific projects like mountain sensing and glacsweb, showcasing their unique networking challenges and solutions. The content also touches upon the evolution of software-defined networking (SDN) and the emergence of FPGA-based switches, advocating for their potential in enhancing campus network infrastructure.
Network research
- 1. Network research Chair: Tim Chown, Network development manager, Jisc
- 2. ILNP: networking without addresses Saleem Bhatti, University of St Andrews
- 3. FRµIT: Raspberry Pi clusters and other adventures in networking research Phil Basford, University of Southampton
- 4. >FRµIT Project >Developing a distributed Raspberry Pi Cluster >Mountain Sensing >IPv6 in the Scottish Highlands >Glacsweb >Sensor Networks on/in Icelandic Glaciers >Erica the Rhino >IPv6 in a cyber-rhino Outline
- 5. >Distributed cluster of Raspberry Pis >Aiming for around 10,000 nodes >Testbed to enable Researchers to experiment without having to build their own cluster FRµIT Project https://fruit-testbed.org/
- 8. >Alpine Linux >Small OS build >Read only file-system >Running containers for applications >Docker >Singularity >Investigating using Jisc Assent service (jisc.ac.uk/assent) for identity management Software Architecture
- 9. Network Architecture L A N 9 5 1 4 - J Z X ® 4R7 4R7 BCM2836RIF GB BROADC OM Azure L A N 9 5 1 4 - J Z X ® 4R7 4R7 BCM2836RIF GB BROADC OM L A N 9 5 1 4 - J Z X ® 4R7 4R7 BCM2836RIF GB BROADC OM Raspberry Pi Symbol by https://github.com/rrobinet
- 12. >Nodes in limited bandwidth scenarios >Differential updates >Investigating peer to peer methods Update Mechanism
- 14. >6LoWPAN (IPv6 Low-power Wireless Personal Area Networks) >COAP (Constrained Application Protocol) >3km and multiple 1km radio links >Direct access to nodes from office desk Mountain Sensing Network
- 15. Mountain Sensing Network Topology Blue = Gateway Red = Default Route Dashed = Intermittent link
- 16. >Mini-ITX PC >Satellite internet connection >No native IPv6 >Uses IPv6 tunnel >Initially 3rd party (until they shutdown) >Now running an IPv6 tunnel server at the University (OpenVPN based) >Also maintains SSH connections to various servers with remote SSH port forward back to gateway Mountain Sensing Backhaul
- 19. >Limited number of servers in University had SSH ports available >Various single points of failure in departmental network >2 possible upload targets >Offsite server (Primary) >Department server (Secondary) Glacsweb Network Challenges
- 20. Erica the Rhino https://www.ericatherhino.org/
- 21. Erica Networking Dashed = VPN Dotted = WiFi
- 22. >Wide variety of research projects with different demands from network resources >Often doing something weird! >Sometimes require multiple redundant systems >Used IPv6 heavily >FREEPOST PICYCLE Summary
- 23. Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND. Dr Philip J. Basford Senior research fellow P.J.Basford@soton.ac.uk I have been… B176/5001, Boldrewood Campus, SO16 7QF T 023 8059 5449
- 24. Thank you
- 25. Programmable network infrastructure: what does it mean for the campus? Matthew Broadbent, University of Lancaster
- 26. Programmable Network Infrastructure What Does it Mean for the Campus? 27th March 2018 Matthew Broadbent (m.broadbent@lancaster.ac.uk)
- 27. • One of the oldest and largest research groups in the department • Themes around: – Technology and protocols – Security and resiliency – Multimedia – IPv6 • Engineering focused – We build, test and break things! • http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/scc/research/networking/ Computer Networking Research Group School of Computing and Communications
- 28. • Programmable networks has been a theme over many years • More recently participated in a number of OpenFlow-based projects: • Themes around content delivery, content distribution – Replicate existing functionality (redirection) – Push functionality into the network (migration) Software Defined Networking Research
- 29. • ~44 switch deployment with OpenFlow-capable hardware • Replaced edge and aggregation layers in SCC – Biggest single-site OF-testbed in Europe (at the time!) • Working extensively with our service team – Modification to their access control system – Hybrid operation – Opt-in with disclaimer – Need for explicit accounting – Still very risky! OpenFlow Campus Testbed Deployment
- 30. • Poor participation and uptake • FlowVisor: enabling multiple concurrent experiments – No resource separation; not great for repeatable results – Made obsolete by introduction of multiple flow-tables in later spec. • Stopcock: message accountability for the service team – Proxy between controller and switches – Made obsolete by introduction of multi-controller roles in later spec. • Balancing production and experimentation is hard! OpenFlow Campus Testbed Reality
- 31. • 4-year EPSRC-funded research grant • Connecting existing UK testbed infrastructure – All Networking related facilities – Vastly different in practise! • Common experimentation platform – Provision and execute an experiment across different sites INITIATE UK Interconnected Testbeds
- 32. • Underpinning connectivity between through Janet – But how do you provide routing between these sites? • Why not put SDN into my IXP? – Centrally hosted SDX – Controller provides each user the abstraction of its own virtual switch – Composes the policies of different users into a single set of rules for physical switches – Enables new partners to integrate into the testbed – Also provides a playground for further research! INITIATE Software Defined Internet Exchange (SDX)
- 33. • Unusually close collaboration between industry and academia • Widespread use in campus networks and datacenters • Limitations – Flow table size – Controller scalability and performance – Multi-tenant controllers • Outside of this, we’ve seen proprietary flavours – SD-WAN: An API on top of WAN solutions? Software Defined Networking Taking Stock
- 34. • Moving protocol specifications make it hard to keep pace • Line-rate performance hard to achieve with complex feature sets • Silicon development takes time! • Why not use FPGAs: NetFPGA project • Number of FPGA-based switch manufacturers appeared – CORSA – Edgecore The Rise of the FPGA-based Switch
- 35. • What if I could program my forwarding plane? • P4 is a programming language which allows us to specify how a switch handles packets – Target independent – Protocol independent – Field reconfigurable • Software-based emulation • Vendor support maturing P4 Beyond OpenFlow table routing { key = { ipv4.dstAddr : lpm; } actions = { drop; route; } size : 2048; } control ingress() { apply { routing.apply(); } }
- 36. • Some are claiming P4 as the evolution of OpenFlow – I think they are rather complementary • P4: make decision on the switch – Great for performance and reducing latency • OF: make decisions at the controller – Great for making distributed and global decisions • You thought supporting OF in a campus network was hard?! • Many of the same challenges a carried over… OpenFlow vs. P4
- 37. • They really go hand-in-hand, but not to be confused with each other • Increased (renewed?) interest in NFV – Bottoming out the realities of building equivalent network functions – Achieving performance in software is hard! • Arguably perfect for the campus LAN – Instantiate functions on-demand – Rapid deployment cycles and seamless upgrades – Avoid vendor-lock in – Cost effective with the use of x86 hardware • Moving towards maturity… Network Function Virtualisation SDN’s Younger Brother
- 38. • £5M EPSRC and BT Prosperity Partnership • Create a radically new architecture for the UK’s internet and telecommunications infrastructure • Multi-disciplinary approach – Statistics, autonomics, operations research, etc. NGCDI Next Generation Converged Digital Infrastructure
- 39. Any Questions? 27th March 2018 Matthew Broadbent (m.broadbent@lancaster.ac.uk)
- 40. Any questions / Thank you
Editor's Notes
- #8: Custom hardware provides mounting Reduces cable spaghetti Allows individual power monitoring control – basically Lights out Enables amount of cores to be scaled
- #14: Monitoring the following processes Hydrological Peatland Frozen Ground 6LoWPAN (IPv6 Low-power Wireless Personal Area Networks) COAP (Constrained Application Protocol) 3km and multiple 1km radio links Direct access to nodes from office desk
- #15: Ripple Routing 50kbps nominal bandwidth
- #18: Monitoring glacier movement using sensors in and on the Ice on Skalafellsjokull, Iceland BeagleBone running Ubuntu on Surface of Glacier
- #19: Main uplink via GPRS WiFi link to nearby Farm (15km line of sight) IPv6 provided using tunnel on WiFi Data uploaded via SCP At most once per day SSH tunnels maintained
- #20: Campus network architecture has changed since Now much more resilient Used Amazon for offsite server Then hosted raspberry Pi Now has azure platform available through central IT team
- #21: Part of a city wide art trail Contains 5 raspberry Pi1 Needed processing power Redundancy to failure Control eyes, eyes, LEDs, sound effects, 2 screens WiFi hotspot
- #22: Public WiFi hotspot Provided more methods of interaction with Erica Connected to internet via WiFi/Ethernet uplink IPv6 Tunnel for remote management REST API on each Pi
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