Extension and Evaluation of Routing with Hints in NetInf Information-Centric Networking

Abstract: Content distribution is the main driver for Internet traffic growth. The traditional networking approach, focused on communication between hosts, cannot efficiently cope with the evolving problem. Thus, information-centric networking (ICN) is a research area that has emerged to provide efficient content distribution solutions by shifting the focus from connecting hosts to connecting information. This new architecture defines named data objects as the main network entity and is based on a publish/subscribe-like paradigm combined with pervasive caching. An open challenge is a scalable routing mechanism for the vast number of objects in the global network. The Network of Information (NetInf) is an ICN architecture that pursues a scalable and efficient global routing mechanism using name resolution service, which maps the content publisher to a set of routing hints. The routing hints aid at forwarding the request towards a source of the content, based on a priority system. Topological aggregation on the publisher authority names and on the location-independent routing hints provide a scalable solution. This thesis extends the routing and forwarding scheme by forming partially ordered sets of routing hints, in order to prevent routing loops. In addition, the system has to meet the routing scalability and high performance requirements of a global solution. A dynamic routing service is investigated through an interface to open source routing software, which provides implementations of the existing routing protocols, in particular Quagga with BGP. The experimental evaluation of the forwarding scheme measures the execution times of the functions in the forwarding process by collecting timestamps. The results identify the most expensive functions and potential bottlenecks under high workload.