Multihoming allows nodes to be multiply connected to the network. It forms thebasis of features which can improve network responsiveness and robustness; e.g. loadbalancing and fail-over, which can be considered as a choice between network locations.However, IP today assumes that IP addresses specify both network locationand node identity. Therefore, these features must be implemented at routers.This dissertation considers an alternative based on the multihoming approach ofthe Identifier Locator Network Protocol (ILNP). ILNP is one of many proposals fora split between network location and node identity. However, unlike other proposals,ILNP removes the use of IP addresses as they are used today. To date, ILNP has notbeen implemented within an operating system stack.I produce the first implementation of ILNP in FreeBSD, based on a superset ofIPv6 – ILNPv6 – and demonstrate a key feature of ILNP: multihoming as a firstclass function of the operating system, rather than being implemented as a routingfunction as it is today.To evaluate the multihoming capability, I demonstrate one important applicationof multihoming – load distribution – at three levels of network hierarchy includingindividual hosts, a singleton Site Border Router (SBR), and a novel, dynamically instantiated,distributed SBR (dSBR). For each level, I present empirical results from ahardware testbed; metrics include latency, throughput, loss and reordering. I compareperformance with unmodified IPv6 and NPTv6. Finally, I evaluate the feasibility ofdSBR-ILNPv6 as an alternative to existing multihoming approaches, based on measurementsof the dSBR’s responsiveness to changes in site connectivity.We find that multihoming can be implemented by individual hosts and/or SBRs,without requiring additional routing state as is the case today, and without anysignificant additional load or overhead compared to unicast IPv6.
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
