Malcolm Scott
MOOSE Talklet, SRG NetOS meeting, November 2007
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__ __ ___ ___ ____ _____ | \/ |/ _ \ / _ \/ ___|| ____| | |\/| | | | | | | \___ \| _| | | | | |_| | |_| |___) | |___ |_| |_|\___/ \___/|____/|_____| Boosting Ethernet's Scalability Malcolm Scott
1. Ethernet: where and why?
Increasingly, it's in the core of the Internet => Multi-purpose international infrastructure: transit, multi-site peering, inter-datacentre links... => Multiple independent IP networks over one infrastructure => "Zero-hop!" My use-case: The Intelligent Airport (TINA) http://intelligentairport.org.uk/ => Unified multi-service wired/wireless airport network => Mobility => Based on Ethernet as lowest common denominator
2. Ethernet: it's great, but it doesn't scale
=> Spanning tree: Shortest path routing would be preferable => Broadcast: DHCP, ARP, unknown destinations... Does every node really need to know? => MAC address table (switches): Learn location of MAC addresses (flat namespace) Table has fixed size; things break if it fills
3. Flat MAC address namespace: encapsulation?
Previously proposed solution (MPLS etc.): => Ingress switch encapsulates every frame within another => Hides real source MAC address from other switches => Egress switch undoes encapsulation to find real destination But how do we find which switch to send encapsulated frame to? Another large table, or more broadcast...
4. MOOSE (Multi-layer Origin-Organised Scalable Ethernet)
Ingress switches rewrite source address of every frame New address: [Switch ID]:[Node ID] This address remains in place when the frame reaches its destination, and will appear in ARP table etc. => So, replies will go to this hierarchical address Makes end nodes unwittingly do the job of mapping target nodes to switch IDs, without breaking compatibility
5. Test implementation: Linux bridging module + Xen
Several Xen domains acting as MOOSE switches or clients More work than I expected :-) Implementation challenges: => Allocation of dynamic node IDs (DHCP server in the kernel?) => Handover for mobility => Integration (I'll also be doing Ethernet routing)
Thanks!
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