DSL Conference Room (Moore 102)
Tuesday, 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Please send email to peifang@dsl.cis.upenn.edu to sign up.

Abstract

``Network Pointers''

The Internet architecture can be characterized as having a rather coarse grained and imperative style of network packet handling: confronted with an IP packet and its source and destination addresses, the infrastructure almost blindly and unalterably executes hundreds of resolution, routing and forwarding decisions.

There are numerous attempts that try to ``extend'' the Internet in order to either reduce the immediate impact an arbitrary packet can have (e.g., NAT) , or to insert diversions from the normal processing paths in order to better use the existing resources (e.g., content delivery).

In this talk we argue for a more fine grained control, in the hands of end nodes, over how packets are handled. The basic abstraction presented is that of networking pointers, which we show to relate to low level concepts like ARP caches, but also high level routing decisions for terminal mobility, content delivery networks, or peer-to-peer overlay forming. We report on first implementation experiences of an ``underlay'' networking approach which uses pointer tricks underneath IP in order to provide new network layer services.

Joint work in collaboration with Christian Tschudin.

References: http://www.cs.washington.edu/hotnets/papers/tschudin.ps

Architecture of a Virtual Internet

A Virtual Internet (VI) is an IP network composed of tunneled links among a set of virtual routers and virtual hosts. An architecture that supports VIs is presented, including underlying network support, requirements of virtual routers and virtual hosts, and virtual naming and addressing. The architecture supports sibling VIs and recursive VIs, as well as allowing a node to participate multiple times in a single overlay (revisitation). Several implementations based on this architecture are discussed, examining the unique capabilities of VIs, including automated deployment and management, recursion, geographic delivery, and reversing the effect of NATs.

Biography Joe received his BS in biophysics and computer science from the Univ. of Scranton in 1985, his MS in computer science from Cornell in 1987, and his PhD from UPenn in 1992. He has been at the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (USC/ISI) since 1992, where he is currently Director of the Postel Center for Experimental Networking in the Computer Networks division, and a Research Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at USC. Joe is the Secretary/Treasurer of ACM Sigcomm, and co-chair of the IEEE Internet Technical Committee, and is active in the IETF. He currently leads projects in overlay networks, automated network management, geographic networks, operating system support for network management, and recursive overlays for fault tolerance, and is active on projects on optical Internet hardware and high-performance transport protocols. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, a member of the ACM, and member of Sigma Xi.

Papers