An eXtensible Open Router Platform (XORP)

由于无法在网络中最有意义的位置部署实验性路由器软件，许多优秀的互联网研究都受到了阻碍。这个问题影响了广泛的研究，包括路由协议本身，主动队列管理方案，以及所谓的中间盒功能，如入侵检测系统。由于很难在真实的网络条件下进行实验，研究变得不现实；通常情况下，想法永远不会在网络模拟器中实现。为了解决这些问题，XORP项目将开发一个完整的开源路由器软件平台，从转发路径到路由协议，使用一个允许扩展的架构，同时提供稳定的、性能良好的基本路由器功能。我们的愿景是在现成的硬件上运行一个集成的路由器软件平台，该平台具有足够好的性能和可靠性，可以在各种网络条件下查看生产服务。软件体系结构的设计将从一开始就考虑到可扩展性。目标是让需要访问路由器软件的互联网研究人员有一个通用的实验平台；这将提供研究人员随后可以用来执行测量或增加新协议功能的所有基本路由器功能。

Much good Internet research is being frustrated by an inability to deploy experimental router software at points in the network where it makes most sense. This problem affects a wide range of research, including routing protocols themselves, active queue management schemes, and so-called "middlebox" functionality such as intrusion detection systems. Research becomes unrealistic because of the difficulty of experimenting under real network conditions; often ideas never make it out of the network simulator. To address these problems, the XORP project will develop a complete open-source router software platform, from forwarding path to routing protocols, using an architecture that permits extensibility whilst at the same time providing stable well-performing basic router functionality. The vision is of an integrated router software platform running on off-the-shelf hardware, that is sufficiently well performing and reliable to see production service in a wide range of network conditions. The software architecture will be designed with extensibility in mind from the start. The goal is for Internet researchers needing access to router software to have a common platform for experimentation; this will provide all the basic router functionality that the researcher can then use to perform measurements or augment with new protocol functionality.