CAREER: Towards Automated and Assurable Enterprise Network Migration

企业网络运营商必须经常改变其网络的设计，以反映新的组织需求（例如，公司合并）。考虑到需要更改数百个相互依赖的底层配置，重新设计企业网络是一项挑战。配置错误可能导致灾难性的后果（例如，大规模的网络中断）。该项目正在研究系统框架，以帮助运营商重新设计他们的网络，以满足期望的高水平目标。优化问题是在重新设计任务的好处与所涉及的重新配置成本之间进行权衡的问题。重新设计任务的算法是通过探索与运筹学社区理论工作的协同作用而衍生出来的。该项目正在设计用于验证配置更改的混合方法，该方法将静态配置分析与从监视网络行为中获得的信息相结合。基于数据挖掘的新技术正在开发中，可以捕获跨网络设备的配置依赖关系。这些技术正被应用于重要的、未被探索的问题领域，比如将安全策略从企业数据中心迁移到云计算模型，重组合并路由设计，以及服务差异化策略。这项研究如果成功，将改变运营商管理网络的方式，为IT组织节省大量成本，并创建更可靠、更安全的网络。这项研究将通过降低迁移到新的企业网络架构（如云计算和全新架构）的风险来促进创新。PI正在创建一个可供学术研究人员使用的网络配置数据存储库，在网络课程中引入有关企业管理的新讲座材料，并参与K-12学生的夏令营。

Enterprise network operators must frequently change the design of their networks to reflect new organizational needs (e.g., company mergers). Redesigning enterprise networks is challenging given the need to change hundreds of interdependent low-level configurations. Configuration errors can have catastrophic consequences (e.g., large-scale network outages). The project is investigating systematic frameworks to help operators redesign their networks to meet desired high-level objectives. Optimization problems are formulated that trade-off the benefits of a redesign task with the reconfiguration costs involved. Algorithms for the redesign tasks are derived by exploring synergies with theoretical work in the operations research community. The project is devising hybrid methodologies for validating configuration changes that combine static configuration analysis with information obtained from monitoring network behavior. Novel techniques based on data-mining are being developed that can capture configuration dependencies across network devices. The techniques are being applied to important and unexplored problem domains such as migrating security policies from enterprise data centers to a cloud computing model, reorganizing routing designs on mergers, and service differentiation policies. The research if successful will change how operators manage their networks, leading to large cost-savings for IT organizations, and the creation of more reliable and secure networks. The research will foster innovation by lowering the risks in migration to new enterprise network architectures such as cloud computing and clean-slate architectures. The PI is creating a network configuration data repository available to academic researchers, introducing new lecture material on enterprise management in the networking curriculum, and participating in summer camps for K-12 students.