In response to limitations of current SDN management solutions and of the traditional single-layer overlay/virtual network design, we propose a recursive approach to enterprise network management, where network management is done through managing various Virtual Transport Networks (VTNs) over different scopes (i.e., regions of operation). Different from the traditional overlay/virtual network model which mainly focuses on routing/tunneling, our VTN approach provides communication service with explicit Quality-of-Service (QoS) support for applications via transport flows, i.e., it involves all mechanisms (e.g., addressing, routing, error and flow control, resource allocation) needed to meet application requirements. Our approach inherently provides a multi-layer solution for overlay/virtual network design.
Our VTN-based approach is inspired by and built on top of the RINA architecture, which aims to solve current TCP/IP limitations. In RINA, a VTN is termed DIF, to mean a Distributed Inter-Process Communication (IPC) Facility, a layer that can be repeated to provide communication services. The concept of transport network is not new, and a lot of work has been done on how to build such a transport network, e.g., Optical Transport Network (OTN) and Multiprotocol Label Switching-Transport Profile (MPLS-TP). The IPC layer (i.e., DIF) in RINA has the properties of both virtual network and transport network, thus we use the term Virtual Transport Network (VTN) to denote this IPC layer in our latest papers.
ProtoRINA (2.0) enables the VTN-based network management on real networks, and it is tested both on the BU campus network and the GENI testbed.
Yuefeng Wang, Nabeel Akhtar and Ibrahim Matta
Programming Routing Policies for Video Traffic
Workshop on Computer and Networking Experimental Research using Testbeds (CNERT 2014), co-located with ICNP 2014, Raleigh, NC, October 2014.