Global Active IP Networks (GAIN): Support for U.S. Participation in International FAIN Consortium

基本的项目假设是，互联网的管理和控制是主动网络的理想应用；研究人员提出了一个系统架构来测试这一点。主动网络是由分组路由器等元素构建的，允许在每个用户甚至每个分组的基础上进行编程。利用CAML和Java等系统提供的新软件功能，主动网络有望更快地适应技术或需求的变化，并更快地引入新服务。这些潜在的优势随之而来的是复杂性的增加及其对性能和安全性的影响。早期的原型系统(ANT、手杖、Smart Packet、SwitchWare和其他)展示了设计空间中的各种点，在可用性、性能和安全性之间进行了权衡。这些原型首先证明了这样的系统是可以建立的，应用程序确实存在(例如，主动桥接和主动可靠多播)，其次，它们的性能足够好(10-100 Mbps)，足以处理几乎所有当前互联网接入点的吞吐量。因此，互联网的许多“边缘”可以增加活跃的网络能力，而对性能的影响最小。还有一种更有趣的可能性，那就是使用主动网络技术逐渐激活IP互联网。研究人员认为，正如提案中描述的那样，这可以通过将可编程元件与能够快速转发数据包的IP路由器放在一起来实现。研究人员已经在小规模上试验了这一想法，随着规模的指数增长，它为提高互联网的可管理性提供了相当大的希望。全球主动IP网络(Gain)项目代表了宾夕法尼亚大学的研究计划，这是一个更大的1000万欧元研究努力(Fain)的一部分。费恩被认为是欧盟IST项目竞赛的第一名。欧洲成员得到了资助，预计宾夕法尼亚大学将从美国来源寻求资金。该财团包括伦敦大学学院(英国)、Jozef Stefan研究所(斯洛文尼亚)、雅典国立技术大学(希腊)、加泰罗尼亚理工大学(西班牙)、德国电信公司(德国)、法国电信/CNET(法国)、KPN(荷兰)、日立欧洲有限公司(英国)、日立有限公司(日本)、SAG ICN(德国)、苏黎世ETH(瑞士)、GMD Forschungsenter信息技术公司(德国)、IKV++(德国)、INTEGRASys(西班牙)和美国宾夕法尼亚大学。这项向NSF提出的建议是为了在这个国际财团中请求资金支持宾夕法尼亚州立大学。宾夕法尼亚大学的重点是主动网络在IP网络资源管理和安全方面的应用。研究人员将研究如何预防和缓解针对安全的复杂的“拒绝服务”攻击。研究人员在Fain的实验定义和评估中发挥着强大的作用。这份提交给NSF的提案提供了主动网络的背景，概述了主动IP网络的研究目标，将这项工作与Fain的背景相结合，并论证了让美国参与一个由欧洲和日本合作者组成的真正全球联盟的重要性。(Fain的提案已提供给NSF。)

The fundamental project hypothesis is that management and control of the Internet is the idealapplication of active networks; the researchers propose a system architecture to test this.Active Networks are constructed from elements, such as packet routers, allowing programmabilityon a per-user or even per-packet basis. With the new software capabilities available from systems such as Caml and Java, active networks offer the promise of more rapid adaptation to changes in technology or requirements, and more rapid introduction of new services. These potential advantages come with the disadvantages of increased complexity, and its consequences for performance and security. Early prototype systems (ANTS, CANES, Smart Packets, SwitchWare and others) illustratedvarious points in the design space, trading off among usability, performance, and security. Theprototypes demonstrated first, that such systems could be built, that applications did indeed exist,(e.g., Active Bridging and Active Reliable Multicast), and second, that they performed well enough(10-100 Mbps) to handle the throughputs of almost all current Internet access points. Thus muchof the "edge" of the Internet can add active network capabilities with minimal performance impact. A more interesting possibility exists, that of using active networking technology to incrementallyactivate the IP Internet. The researchers believe this can be achieved, as described within the proposal, byco-locating programmable elements with IP routers capable of fast packet forwarding. The researchers haveexperimented with this idea on a small scale and it offers considerable promise for increasing themanageability of the Internet with its exponential increases in scale. The Global Active IP Network (GAIN) project represents the University of Pennsylvania'sresearch program as part of a larger 10M Euro research effort (FAIN). FAIN was considered andtop-ranked within the E.U. IST Programme competition. European members were funded, with theexpectation that Penn would seek funding from U.S. sources. The consortium includes UniversityCollege London (UK), the Jozef Stefan Institute (Slovenia), the National Technical University ofAthens (Greece), the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (Spain), Deutsche Telekom Berkom(Germany), France Telecom/CNET (France), KPN (Netherlands), Hitachi Europe Ltd. (UK),Hitachi Ltd. (Japan), SAG ICN (Germany), ETH Zurich (Switzerland), GMD ForschungszentrumInformationstechnik (Germany), IKV++ (Germany), INTEGRASys (Spain), and U. Penn in theUnited States. This proposal to NSF is a request for funds to support Penn in this internationalconsortium. Penn's focus with GAIN is applications of Active Networks to IP network resource managementand security. The researchers will investigate the prevention and mitigation of sophisticated "denial of service" attacks on security. The researchers are playing a strong role in experiment definition and evaluation for FAIN. This proposal to NSF provides background on Active Networking, outlines the research goals for an active IP network, sets this work with the context of FAIN, and argues the importance of providing U.S. participation in a truly global consortium with European and Japanese collaborators.( The FAIN proposal has been provided to NSF.)