NeTS: Small: Merging Traffic for Energy Conservation in Enterprise & Datacenter Networks

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Energy consumed by computing and communication devices has become a significant cost ofconducting business today. Indeed, as we move to higher speed networks and increase thedeployment of the Internet to all corners of the world, this cost is expected to grow dramatically.Major contributors to the size and energy cost of the deployed infrastructure include enterprisenetworks and data center networks. Enterprise networks are deployed in the workplace and havebeen shown to be heavily under-utilized with peak utilizations typically a fraction of capacity.Similarly, data center networks have also been shown to be very lightly loaded for significantlengths of time. In both these cases, the energy consumed by the networking infrastructure is veryhigh, in relation to the actual data transmitted. The reasons for this are twofold. First, networkswitches are designed to always run at peak rates even in the absence of traffic and second, switchports map one-to-one to end systems even though these systems load the ports at a tiny fraction ofavailable capacity. The outcome of this research project is a fundamental re-design of the networkswitch in a way that preserves user experience but results in dramatic energy savings.The key idea in this work is the development of a hardware device called a merge network, whichsits between the switch and connected systems. Traffic coming into the switch is merged togetherand fed to a smaller number of ports allowing either the replacement of large port-densityswitches with smaller switches or the powering off of large portions of the switch such as linecards and memory banks. While the benefit of this idea is evident, the challenges in realizing itare many. At the hardware level, the challenge is in merging traffic with minimal energy cost anddata loss. The approach adopted in this project is to build the merge network using analogcomponents with a digital control for managing Layer 2 protocol issues. Modern switchesimplement a suite of Layer 2 protocols that expect a 1-1 mapping of switch ports to end-systems.By breaking this mapping using a merge network, one effectively causes incorrect protocolbehavior. This issue is addressed by utilizing port virtualization within each switch. Thus, theLayer 2 protocols remain unaffected while the network sees tremendous reduction in energyusage. The project uses prototyping, experimentation and simulation to fully characterize this newswitch architecture in enterprise and data center networks. Experimental systems based on ClickModular Router will be inserted into the College network to measure the energy savings in realapplication as well as to understand side effects of such a redesign on overall network behavior.Traffic statistics collected at a data center network and the University-level enterprise networkwill be utilized in a simulator to analyze protocol behavior at a larger scale. This project istransformative in that it redesigns the basic building block of the Internet resulting in dramaticenergy savings.The broader impact of this work ranges from fundamentally redesigning the key component ofthe Internet (the switch) to directly influencing the energy usage in the communicationsinfrastructure. The impact on industry is significant in that the work here will influence the designof future high-speed switches where the merge network is incorporated into the architecturerather than as an external add on. Traffic statistics collected during this project will be madeavailable to the research community and will thus provide a much-needed source of enterprise-leveltraces. The research community will also benefit by the implementation of IEEE 802.1protocols into the Click software base. The project will enhance the training of the futureworkforce via the development of a new class and including students in hands on measurementand development of the experimental platform.