Evolving the network layer of the Internet

***Refreshments at 11:50am***

Abstract:

Changing the Internet architecture is notoriously difficult. A key reason for this difficulty is that today's Internet infrastructure is mainly built on specialized hardware. This has long been considered a prerequisite for achieving the packet-processing speeds needed in the Internet core, but makes changing the functionality of the network hard, if not impossible.

I will talk about turning the Internet into an "evolvable" network -- one that allows us to try out new network services and experiment with new protocols, without having to install new specialized equipment every time. This would enable us, for instance, to continually evolve the Internet's defense mechanisms in response to new threats, or its troubleshooting mechanisms in response to new problems. I will present RouteBricks, a new router architecture, which consists entirely of off-the-shelf PCs (and can be programmed like one), yet supports line rates of tens of Gbps. Then I will show how to use such a router architecture to deploy systematic Internet troubleshooting: I will present Retroactive Sampling, a new packet sampling technique that enables Internet users or regulators to track down packet loss and delay and accurately evaluate the performance of untrusted Internet service providers. Today, deploying such a system would require installing new hardware throughout the Internet; with evolvable network infrastructure, like RouteBricks, it would only require a software upgrade.