Internet Infrastructure

MPLS Based Web-switching

In this project, we are combining two emerging trends in the area of networking:

• the increasing use of MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) in core and access networks, and
• specialised layer 4-7 web switches in front of server farms for high volume web-sites.

Web-switches serve four key functions with respect to routing user requests:

• content routing
• load balancing
• affinity
• service differentiation

Our key idea is to use a MPLS switch as a reverse proxy in front of a server farm (instead of layer 4 or layer 7 switch), to avoid the overhead of TCP termination. A control connection is used between the forward and reverse proxies to map application layer information such as URLs to labels. The client-side MPLS-aware proxy sends HTTP requests to the server farm using labels appropriate to this connection.

Representative Publication:

MPLS-based Request Routing. Proc. Int'l Workshop on Web Caching and Content Distribution (WCW '01), R&D Synopsis, June 2001. A. Acharya, A. Shaikh, R. Tewari and D. Verma. (Paper ) (Foils)

Patent Issued:

A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTENT-AWARE WEB SWITCHING
Co-inventors : A.A. Shaikh, D. C. Verma, R. Tewari. US Patent 7209977. Apr '07

 

IPv6 Content Distribution Networks (CDNs)

IPv6 has in-built support for mobility. We investigated ways in which this intrinsic feature of IPv6 could be useful in CDNs such as for request routing. We found that the functionality needed for request routing in CDNs is in many ways similar to routing packets to mobile nodes.

Using Mobility Support for Request-Routing in IPv6 CDNs . IBM Technical Report .  7th Intl Workshop on web content caching and distribution ( WCW-7 ).  A. Acharya and A. Shaikh. (Foils)

 

IP Security

In this project, we looked at how do we check if the IPSec transformations are taking place as advertised. The solution was to capture ICMP echo/response from the wire and check if the IPSec headers are correct.

IP Security Validator is an experimental tool that allows validation of Virtual Private Network (VPN) configurations between two network interfaces. As with testing connectivity using the Ping program, IP Security Validator enables verification and validation of VPN configurations and their connectivity. This easy-to-use tool determines whether traffic between two hosts/IP interfaces is encapsulated (for example, IPSEC VPN) or not. IP Security Validator is a single application that can be used by both users and administrators. (Additional Info)

Publications :

IPSECvalidate - A Tool to Validate IPSEC Configurations.  Usenix LISA 2001 15th Systems Administration Conference, Dec '01. A. Acharya, M. Beigi, R. Jennings, R. Seiler and D. Verma. (Paper)

Patent Awarded :

Validation of network communication tunnels.
US Patent 6,829,709. Co-inventors : R. Sailer, R. B. Jennings, D. C. Verma, M. S. Beigi. Dec 2004.

Available Software : IP Security Validator available from IBM Alphaworks

Storage Virtualization

In ISCSI, SCSI commands and data blocks are sent over TCP/IP connections. Disk blocks may be mapped to different storage devices. If blocks are moved between storage devices, then either host mappings need to be changed, or the TCP connection needs to be terminated an intermediate gateway.Our solution consists of assiging a virtual IP address and port number to blocks within Logical Units (LUNs). A gateway provides the mapping between virtual IP address and port number to a corresponding physical address and port number. Thus, when a block is moved to a different device, the host is not affected since only the translation at the gateway is changed.

Patent Issued :

VIRTUALIZATION OF ISCSI STORAGE. Co-inventors : K. Amiri. US Patent 6,829,709. Dec '04

Distributed Admission control for Multicast Flows

Many group communication applications have real-time constraints which can be met by providing QoS for multicast flows. In our proposed architecture, core routers do not perform any admission control. This is done by edge routers and forwarding state is installed at the core-routers using an intra-domain signaling protocol. Joint work with B. R. Badrinath and S. Bhatnagar, Rutgers University.

Publications :

Distributed Admission Control for Heterogeneous Multicast with Bandwitdh Guarantees. 11th Intl Workshop on  Quality of Service (IWQoS 2003), June 2003. S. Bhatnagar, B. R. Badrinath and A. Acharya. (Paper) (Foils)