Multihoming with ILNP in FreeBSD
Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Multihoming allows nodes to be multiply connected to the network. It forms the \nbasis of features which can improve network responsiveness and robustness; e.g. load \nbalancing and fail-over, which can be considered as a choice between network locations. \nHowever, IP today assumes that IP addresses specify both network location \nand node identity. Therefore, these features must be implemented at routers. \nThis dissertation considers an alternative based on the multihoming approach of \nthe Identifier Locator Network Protocol (ILNP). ILNP is one of many proposals for \na split between network location and node identity. However, unlike other proposals, \nILNP removes the use of IP addresses as they are used today. To date, ILNP has not \nbeen implemented within an operating system stack. \nI produce the first implementation of ILNP in FreeBSD, based on a superset of \nIPv6 – ILNPv6 – and demonstrate a key feature of ILNP: multihoming as a first \nclass function of the operating system, rather than being implemented as a routing \nfunction as it is today. \nTo evaluate the multihoming capability, I demonstrate one important application \nof multihoming – load distribution – at three levels of network hierarchy including \nindividual hosts, a singleton Site Border Router (SBR), and a novel, dynamically instantiated, \ndistributed SBR (dSBR). For each level, I present empirical results from a \nhardware testbed; metrics include latency, throughput, loss and reordering. I compare \nperformance with unmodified IPv6 and NPTv6. Finally, I evaluate the feasibility of \ndSBR-ILNPv6 as an alternative to existing multihoming approaches, based on measurements \nof the dSBR’s responsiveness to changes in site connectivity. \nWe find that multihoming can be implemented by individual hosts and/or SBRs, \nwithout requiring additional routing state as is the case today, and without any \nsignificant additional load or overhead compared to unicast IPv6.
Author: Bruce Simpson
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2342543825