Publications
2007
Comparative Studies on Authentication and Key Exchange Methods for 802.11 Wireless LAN ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , Jun Lei , Jianrong Tan, Computers & Security, Volume 26, Issue 5, Pages 401-409,
Elsevier, ISSN 0167-4048, August 2007.
Read abstract
IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN has become one of the hot topics on the design and development of network access technologies. In particular, its authentication and key exchange (AKE) aspects, which form a vital building block for modern security mechanisms, deserve further investigation. In this paper we first identify the general requirements used for WLAN authentication and key exchange (AKE) methods, and then classify them into three levels (mandatory, recommended, and additional operational requirements). We present a review of issues and proposed solutions for AKE in 802.11 WLANs. Three types of existing methods for addressing AKE issues are identified, namely, the legacy, layered and access control-based AKE methods. Then, we compare these methods against the identified requirements. Based on the analysis, a multi-layer AKE framework is proposed, together with a set of design guidelines, which aims at a flexible, extensible and efficient security as well as easy deployment.
PDF [116.1 kB]
General Internet Signaling Transport (GIST) over SCTP ,
Xiaoming Fu , Christian Dickmann, and Jon Crowcroft, Internet Engineering Task Force, Next Steps in Signaling (NSIS) Working Group,
March 2007.
Read abstract
The General Internet Signaling Transport (GIST) protocol currently uses TCP or TLS over TCP for connection mode operation. This document describes the usage of GIST over the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP). The use of SCTP can take the advantage of features provided by SCTP, namely streaming-based transport, support of multiple streams to avoid head of line blocking, and the support of multi-homing to provide network level fault tolerance. Additionally, the support for the Partial Reliability Extension of SCTP is discussed.
PDF [19.9 kB]
E2T: End-to-End Tunnelling Extension to Mobile IPv6 ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , Deguang Le , and Xiaoyuan Gu, in Proceedings of the 4th IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (CCNC 2007), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA,
IEEE Communications Society, January 2007.
Read abstract
In the standard Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6), the bidirectional tunnelling through the home agent or the route optimization show inefficiency in per-packet routing, especially when both communicating endpoints are mobile. To be scalable and compatible, mobile devices? packets should be routed efficiently with minimal changes to the network infrastructure. However, the current solutions do not provide any means for the end systems to perform optimized packet routing during the operation of the mobile devices. In this paper, we present an end-to-end tunnelling extension to MIPv6 (E2T) for mobile routing packets, which reduces the per-packet routing cost for the communications of mobile devices through the lower packet routing overhead. Besides, our approach requires little change to MIPv6, but allows the more efficient routing behavior with the shorter end-to-end transmission latency between communicating endpoints. The simulation results show our approach is suitable for real-time multimedia applications.
PDF [357.5 kB]
DMMP: A New Dynamic Mesh-based Overlay Multicast Protocol Framework ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , Jun Lei , Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference - Workshop on Peer-to-Peer Multicasting (P2PM 2007), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA,
IEEE Communications Society, January 2007.
Read abstract
Multicasting can provide an efficient way of delivering data from a sender to a group of receivers. It has received much attention over the past decade because of an increasing demand for group communication applications such as multimedia streaming. However, native IP multicast has not become widespread largely due to its technical and operational issues. To overcome these obstacles of deployment, various application layer and overlay multicast approaches have been proposed. Compared with IP multicast, they provide a new way of handling multicast without upgrading the infrastructure in a large scale. Nevertheless, they introduce a number of challenges and are still plagued with concerns on scalability, heterogeneity and dynamic performance. In this paper we propose a new protocol framework for addressing these issues, so-called the Dynamic Mesh-based Overlay Multicast Protocol or DMMP, which intends to provide an efficient and resilient multicast support by dynamically managing an overlay core comprised of end hosts. Moreover, DMMP can be used for media streaming which is contracted by a limited resource in stream supplying entities and requires good scalability and reliability. Initial analysis shows that DMMP has the potential to efficiently deliver multicast services for large groups.
PDF [311.3 kB]
2006
Beyond QoS Signaling: a Generic IP Signaling Framework ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , and Hannes Tschofenig, Computer Networks, Volume 50, Issue 17, pages 3416-3433,
Elsevier, December 2006.
Read abstract
This paper describes the design principles and an introduction of a framework and protocols for generic IP signaling, namely the Cross-Application Signaling Protocol (CASP) and its signaling applications. While reusing certain features of the existing RSVP protocol, CASP overcomes its shortcomings and may be deployed as a replacement technology to provide simpler, mobility-supported, more extensible and more secure signaling services in IP based networks. This paper discusses challenges of today?s IP signaling protocols and addresses fundamentals and key aspects of CASP and its current signaling applications. In addition, a comparison with previous signaling protocol proposals and an outlook of future work in this area are also given.
PDF [272.8 kB]
From Resource Reservation to Extensible IP Signaling ,
Xiaoming Fu , Habilitation Thesis, Mathematische Fakultaet, Universitaet Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany,
October 2006.
Dynamic Mesh-based overlay Multicast Protocol (DMMP) ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , Jun Lei , Internet Research Task Force, Internet draft (draft-lei-samrg-dmmp-01), work in progress, Scalable Adaptive Multicast (SAM) Research Group,
October 2006.
Read abstract
This document describes a Dynamic Mesh-based overlay Multicast Protocol (DMMP) to support multicast data delivery applications without relying on classic IP multicast, including multicast group management, overlay hierarchy establishment, multicast tree construction and data forwarding scheme from the source to a number of receivers. The DMMP framework builds on control plane functions which dynamically manage an overlay core and a multicast tree layer. The key idea is a number of end hosts self-organize into an overlay mesh, and dynamically maintain such a mesh. Based on the constructed mesh, some core-based clusters are built with capacity-aware trees inside. Then, a multicast tree consisting of DMMP-aware end hosts (and/or specific routers) is built on the top of the overlay core for the efficient delivery of the multicast data.
PDF [64.0 kB]
Securing the Next Steps in Signalling (NSIS) Protocol Suite ,
Xiaoming Fu , and Hannes Tschofenig, International Journal of Internet Protocol Technology, Volume 1, No. 4, pages 271-282,
InderScience Publishers, ISSN 1743-8209, August 2006.
Read abstract
The Next Steps In Signalling (NSIS) protocol suite represents an extensible framework for enabling various signalling applications over IP-based networks. The framework consists of two layers that need different types of security protection; the lower layer mainly deals with the discovery of adjacent peers and establishment of channel security to protect the delivery of signalling messages between two peers, while the upper layer provides the signalling application specific functionalities. Different security properties are required at the two layers with stronger authorisation functionality at the signalling application layer. In this paper we examine how various security vulnerabilities can be utilised by an adversary, including eavesdropping, Man-In-The-Middle (MITM) attacks, fraud and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. Moreover, we describe how to protect against a number of selected security threats and highlight some security challenges that require further research.
PDF [431.5 kB]
Implementation and Performance Study of a New NAT/Firewall Signaling Protocol ,
Xiaoming Fu , Niklas Steinleitner , Henning Peters, and Hannes Tschofenig, in Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems-Workshops (ICDCSW 2006), the 5th International Workshop on Assurance in Distributed Systems and Networks (ADSN2006), Lisboa, Portugal,
IEEE Computer Society, ISBN 0-7695-2541-5, July 2006.
Read abstract
The NAT/Firewall NSIS Signaling Layer Protocol (NAT/FW NSLP) is a path-coupled signaling protocol for explicit Network Address Translator and firewall configuration within an extensible IP signaling framework currently being developed by the IETF Next Steps in Signaling (NSIS) working group. This new protocol allows end hosts to signal along a path to configure NATs and firewalls according to the data flow needs. In this paper we present a first open source implementation and performance evaluation of the NAT/FW NSLP protocol. The implementation utilizes a generic state machine template and can automatically generate source code for message handling classes. The performance study shows that our implementation scales well and is able to support firewall signaling for up to tens of thousands of flows in parallel even in a low-end PC testbed environment. The overall performance bottleneck is found to lie in the utilized firewall implementation, not depending on the NAT/FW NSLP implementation.
PDF [394.6 kB]
DMMP: A New Dynamic Mesh-based Overlay Multicast Protocol Framework ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , Jun Lei , Technical Report No. IFI?TB?2006?05, Institute for Informatics, University of Goettingen, Germany,
ISSN 1611-1044, July 2006.
Read abstract
Multicasting provides an efficient way of delivering data from a sender to a group of receivers. It has been gained much attention over the past decade because of an increasing demand for group communication applications such as multimedia streaming. Compared with network layer multicast solutions, recent application-layer multicast and overlay multicast approaches provide a new way of handling multicast without upgrading the infrastructure in a large scale. Meanwhile, they introduce a number of challenges and are still plagued with concerns pertaining to scalability, deployment, heterogeneity and dynamic performance. In this paper we propose a new protocol framework for relieving these issues, so-called the Dynamic Mesh-based Overlay Multicast Protocol or DMMP, which intends to provide an efficient and reliable multicast support by dynamically managing an overlay core comprised of end hosts. Although more analysis and evaluation is necessary, this paper sheds light on several identified design issues with DMMP and initially analyzes its performance.
PDF [689.2 kB]
Modelling Soft-State Protocols with SDL ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , IEE Proceedings Communications,
ISSN 1350-2425, Volume 153, Issue 3, pages 365-375, June 2006.
GONE: an Infrastructure Overlay for Resilient, DoS-Limiting Networking ,
Xiaoming Fu , and Jon Crowcroft, Proceedings of the 16th ACM International Workshop on Network and Operating Systems Support for Digital Audio and Video (NOSSDAV 2006), Newport, Rhode Island, USA,
ACM, May 2006.
Read abstract
With today's penetration in volume and variety of information flowing across the Internet, data and services are experiencing various issues with the TCP/IP infrastructure, most notably availability, reliability and mobility. Therefore, a critical infrastructure is highly desireable, in particular for multimedia streaming applications. So far the proposed approaches have focused on applying application-layer routing and path monitoring for reliability and on enforcing stateful packet filters in hosts or network to protect against Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. Each of them solves its own aspect of the problem, trading scalability for availability and reliability among a relatively small set of nodes, yet there is no single overall solution available which addresses these issues in a large scale.
We propose an alternative overlay network architecture by introducing a set of generic functions in network edges and end hosts. We conjecture that the network edge constitutes a major source of DoS, resilience and mobility issues to the network, and propose a new solution to this problem, namely the General Internet Signaling Transport (GIST) Overlay Networking Extension, or GONE. The basic idea of GONE is to create a half-permanent overlay mesh consisting of GONE-enabled edge routers, which employs capability-based DoS prevention and forwards end-to-end user traffic using the GIST messaging associations. GONE's use of GIST on top of SCTP allows multi-homing, multi-streaming and partial reliability, while only a limited overhead for maintaining the messaging association is introduced. In addition, upon the services provided by GONE overlays, hosts are identified by their unique host identities independent of their topologies location, and simply require (de-) multiplexing instead of the traditional connection management and other complex functionality in the transport layer. As a result, this approach offers a number of advantages for upper layer end-to-end applications, including intrinsic provisioning of resilience and DoS prevention in a dynamic and nomadic environment.
PDF [283.3 kB]
Overhead and Performance Study of the General Internet Signaling Transport (GIST) Protocol ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , Henning Schulzrinne, Hannes Tschofenig, and Christian Dickmann, IEEE INFOCOM 2006, Bacelona, Spain,
IEEE, April 2006.
Read abstract
The General Internet Signaling Transport (GIST) protocol is currently being developed as the base protocol component in the IETF Next Steps In Signaling (NSIS) protocol stack to support a variety of signaling applications. In this paper we present our study on the protocol overhead and performance aspects of GIST. We quantify network-layer protocol overhead and observe the effects of enhanced modularity and security in GIST. We developed a first open source GIST implementation at the University of Göttingen, and study its performance in a Linux testbed. A GIST node serving 45,000 signaling sessions is found to consume small amounts of CPU and memory (on average 1.1ms for processing a signaling message and 2.4KB memory for a session). Individual routines in the GIST code are instrumented to obtain a detailed profile of their contributions to the overall system processing. Important factors in determining performance, such as the number of sessions, state management, refresh frequency, timer management and signaling message size are further discussed. We investigate several mechanisms to improve GIST performance so as to be comparable with an RSVP implementation.
PDF [181.9 kB]
Comparison Studies between Pre-Shared and Public Key Exchange Mechanisms for Transport Layer Security ,
Xiaoming Fu , Fang-Chun Kuo , Hannes Tschofenig, and Fabian Meyer, Proceedings of the 9th IEEE Global Internet Symposium, in conjunction with IEEE INFOCOM 2006, Barcelona, Spain, pages 77-82,
IEEE, ISBN 3-937201-01-7, April 2006.
Read abstract
The pre-shared key based mechanisms for Transport Layer Security (TLS) were recently standardized by the IETF to extend the set of ciphersuites by utilizing existing key management infrastructures. The benefit of pre shared based mechanisms is the avoidance or reduction of the cryptographic operations used in public-key based mechanisms. However, so far there are no performance measurements for pre-shared key based ciphersuites available. In this paper, we present a systematic analysis and performance comparison between the pre-shared key exchange mechanisms and the standard public key exchange mechanisms in TLS. Our performance metrics are processing
time and transmitted amount of data for a handshake establishment. Furthermore, the interaction between the overall TLS handshake duration and the network environment is evaluated. The results for different key exchange mechanisms are comparatively studied and the design choices of pre-shared key based key exchange mechanisms have been validated. Experimental results give details about the performance improvement of the preshared key based mechanisms compared to the standard public key based mechanisms.
PDF [331.4 kB]
Comparison Studies between Pre-Shared Key and Public Key Exchange Mechanisms for Transport Layer Security (TLS) ,
Xiaoming Fu , Fang-Chun Kuo , Hannes Tschofenig, and Fabian Meyer, Technical Report No. IFI-TB-2006-01, Institute for Informatics, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany,
ISSN 1611-1044, January 2006.
Read abstract
The public-key based handshake process of TLS is regarded as part of bottleneck that significantly degrades the performance. The pre-shared key based key exchange mechanisms for TLS were recently standardized by the IETF for avoiding or reducing the cryptographic operations in public-key based mechanisms. However, so far there is no performance measurement for pre-shared key based key exchange suites available. In this paper, we present a systematic analysis of performance comparison between the pre-shared key exchange mechanisms and the standard public key exchange mechanisms in TLS. Our performance metrics are the processing time in both slow and fast processor machines as well as the transmitted data amount for a handshake establishment. Furthermore, the interaction of the overall TLS handshake duration and the network environment is evaluated. The results for different key exchange mechanisms are comparatively studied and the design choices of pre-shared key based key exchange mechanisms have been validated. It has been observed that pre-shared key based mechanisms perform better than the standard public key based mechanisms.
PDF [357.6 kB]
Principles and Experiments of Explicit Delay Control ,
Xiaoming Fu , Xiaoyuan Gu, Dirk Markwardt, and Lars Wolf, Proceedings of IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (CCNC'06), Las Vegas, USA,
IEEE, January 2006.
Read abstract
Real-time interactive multimedia applications are highly delay-sensitive, and packets that are out of delay boundaries are usually obsolete. However the current Internet Protocol lacks a way to control the lifetime of the packets explicitly. We propose a packet lifetime control mechanism called Explicit Delay Control (EDC) that embeds a Maximum Tolerable Delay (MTD) field in an IPv4 option. At each network node, the MTD is deducted by the singlehop delay. Packets that expire their lifetime are discarded and non-congestion related delay losses are signaled to the sender to reduce inaccuracy in delay estimations and to adapt to path changes. We implemented EDC in the Linux kernel. Our evaluation has shown that EDC is an effective scheme to ensure the ?legality? of the packets, reduce the waste of bandwidth and processing time in the networks, and alleviate congestions.
PDF [207.6 kB]
A Review of Mobility Support Paradigms for the Internet ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , Deguang Le , IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, Volume 8, No. 1, First Quarter, pages 38-51,
IEEE, ISSN 1553-877X, 2006.
Read abstract
With the development of mobile communications and Internet technology, there is a strong need to provide connectivity for roaming devices to continuously communicate with other devices on the Internet ? at any time and anywhere. The key issue of this vision is how to support mobility in TCP/IP networks. In this paper, we review the TCP/IP protocol stack and analyze the problems associated with it in the mobile environment. We then investigate the mobility support techniques and existing solutions for providing mobility support on the Internet. We classify the proposed solutions based on the protocol layers and present paradigms for each category of layer. We also provide a comparison of the different solutions belonging to different categories, including their advantages and disadvantages. Results have shown that there is no single solution that perfectly addresses mobility support for the Internet. Finally, we conclude this survey with a recommendation of features that ought to be met in Internet mobility support.
PDF [235.5 kB]
2005
Architectural Thoughts and Requirements Considerations on Video Streaming over the Internet ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , Ingo Juchem , Jun Lei , Technical Report No. IFI?TB?2005?06, Institute for Informatics, University of Goettingen, Germany,
ISSN 1611?1044, November 2005.
Read abstract
With increasing demands of multimedia information over the Internet, video streaming has been received explosive attentions. With respect to the real-time nature of video streaming, instable bandwidth, latency, noise, packet loss, retransmission and out of order packet delivery are all problems that can affect video streaming over the Internet. However, the traditional Internet traffic is not sensitive to these problems. Based on the general video streaming architecture, we give out some considerations on design and architectural mechanisms, namely, media server, media compression, media QoS control, media distribution services, media security mechanisms and protocol stacks for video streaming. For each of these areas, we present some existing methods and implementations. Then we propose architecture via overlay multicast integrated with proxy caching to achieve efficiency, flexibility and scalability. Finally, we conclude this issue and point out the research direction.
PDF [503.1 kB]
A Quality-of-Service Resource Allocation Client for CASP ,
Xiaoming Fu , Henning Schulzrinne, Hannes Tschofenig, and Jochen Eisl, Technical Report No. TB-IFI-2005-07, Institute for Informatics, University of Goettingen, Germany,
ISSN 1611-1044, November 2005.
Read abstract
Signaling resource reservations is one of the possible applications of the Cross-Application Signaling Protocol (CASP). This document describes a client protocol that supports per-flow resource reservationin both sender- and receiver-directed modes operation.
PDF [99.8 kB]
Security Implications of the Session Identifier ,
Xiaoming Fu , Hannes Tschofenig, Henning Schulzrinne, Robert Hancock, and Andrew McDonald, Technical Report No. TB-IFI-2005-08, Institute for Informatics, University of Goettingen, Germany,
ISSN 1611-1044, November 2005.
Read abstract
As one result of the analysis activities in the NSIS group it was realized that mobility and the ability to change the flow identifier causes problems with existing QoS reservations. To be able to associate a signaling message with existing state an identifier other than the flow identifier had to be used. Such an abstraction is achieved with the session identifier which allows identification of established state independently of the flow characteristics.
Although the introduction of a session identifier sounds simple and beneficial, it introduces a problem which is subsequently referred to as the session ownership problem.
This document describes the session ownership problem, the implications for an NSIS protocol and summarizes already discussed solutions.
PDF [79.7 kB]
NSIS: A New Extensible IP Signaling Protocol Suite ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , Henning Schulzrinne, Attila Bader, Cornelia Kappler, Georgios Karagiannis, Hannes Tschofenig, and Sven Van den Bosch, IEEE Communications Magazine, Internet Technology Series, pages 133-141,
IEEE, October 2005.
Read abstract
In the last few years, a number of applications have emerged that can benefit from network-layer signaling, i.e., the installation, maintenance and removal of control state in network elements. These applications include path-coupled and path-decoupled quality of service (QoS) management and resource allocation, as well as network debugging, NAT and firewall control. These applications call for an extensible and securable signaling protocol. This paper discusses some of the recent standardization efforts in the IETF for a new extensible IP signaling protocol suite (NSIS). We describe the design of the NSIS protocol suite, and compare them with RSVP, the current Internet QoS signaling protocol.
PDF [159.9 kB]
Towards Self-optimizing Protocol Stack for Autonomic Communication: Initial Experience ,
Xiaoming Fu , Xiaoyuan Gu, Hannes Tschofenig, and Lars Wolf, In: Ioannis Stavrakakis and Michael Smirnov (eds), Proceedings of 2nd IFIP International Workshop on Autonomic Communication (WAC 2005), Athens, Greece, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 3854, pages 186-201,
Springer-Verlag, October 2005.
Read abstract
The Internet is facing ever-increasing complexity in the construction, configuration and management of heterogeneous networks. New communication paradigms are undermining its original design principles. The mobile Internet demands a level of optimum that is hard to achieve with a strictly-layered protocol stack. Questioning if layering is still an adequate foundation for autonomic protocol stack design, we study the state-of-the-art from both the layered camp and its counterpart. We then outline our vision on protocol stack design for autonomic communication with the POEM model and its internals. A novel cross-layer design approach that combines the advantages of layering and the benefits of holistic and systematic cross-layer optimization is at the core of this work. With inspirations from the natural ecosystem, we are working on the role-based Composable Functional System for self-optimization that features proactive monitoring and control. By doing so step-by-step, we envisage reaching the goal of self-tuning autonomic network with high level of autonomy and efficiency, with minimum human management complexity and user intervention.
PDF [296.8 kB]
Fast Seamless Handover Scheme and Cost Performance Optimization for Ping-Pong Type of Movement ,
Xiaoming Fu , Zongkai Yang, Yuming Wang, Dasheng Zhao, and Jianhua He, Proceedings of the 16th Annual IEEE International Symposium on Personal Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC 2005), Berlin, Germany,
IEEE, September 2005.
Read abstract
The ping-pong type of movement is a typical motion manner in mobile IPv6 networks, which will bring frequent handovers and thus increase signaling burden. On the other hand, reducing handover delay in this case seems to be more significant. In this paper we propose a fast seamless handover scheme for the ping-pong type of movement as an extension to the hierarchical mobile IPv6. Based on the simulation results, it can be observed that, by setting the reservation active flag (RAF) and the offline count down timer (CDT), the scheme significantly reduces QoS signaling cost and handover delay. Furthermore, the simulations work out an optimized CDT for acquiring better cost performance of resource reservation.
PDF [286.8 kB]
Advanced Authentication and Authorization for Quality of Service Signaling ,
Xiaoming Fu , Tseno Tsenov, Hannes Tschofenig, and Eckhart Koerner, 1st IEEE/CreatNet Workshop on Security and QoS in Communication Networks (SecQoS 2005), Athens, Greece (in conjunction with the first IEEE International Conference on Security and Privacy for Emerging Areas in Communication and Networks - SECURECOM 2005),
IEEE Computer Society Press, September 2005.
Read abstract
One of the key requirements of today?s and future network infrastructures is to provide Quality of Service (QoS) support for end-to-end applications, by distinguishing the application flows and properly handling them in network nodes. As an important component to achieve Internet QoS, explicit signaling schemes for resource reservation have been proposed, which deal with admission, installation and refreshment of QoS reservation state information. To be useful, any QoS signaling protocol should provide a capability for authentication and authorization of the QoS requests, especially in environments where the end points are not trusted by the network nodes. However, existing protocols for QoS signaling encounter a number of authentication and authorization issues, which limit their application scenarios. The advent of NSIS QoS Signaling Layer Protocol (QoS-NSLP) offers the prospect to overcome some of these issues. After describing the overall design of QoSNSLP, we present an approach to support advanced authentication and authorization capabilities by using the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP). In comparison with existing approaches, this approach, combined with the support for effective interaction with the Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) infrastructure, provides flexible and extensible authentication and authorization methods for the QoS signaling.
PDF [959.2 kB]
E2T: End-to-End Tunneling Extension to Mobile IPv6 ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , Deguang Le , and Xiaoyuan Gu, Technical Report No. IFI-TB-2005-05, Institute for Informatics, University of Göttingen,
ISSN 1611-1044, September 2005.
Read abstract
In the standard Mobile IPv6, route optimization or bidirectional tunnelling through the home agent show inefficiency in per-packet forwarding, especially when both communicating endpoints are mobile. To be scalable and compatible, mobile devices? packets should be forwarded in a way with minimal changes to the network infrastructure. However, the current solutions do not provide any means for the end systems to perform optimized packet routing during the operation of mobile devices.
In this paper, following a performance analysis of Mobile IPv6 routing mechanisms, we present the E2T - an extension to Mobile IPv6 for routing packets. It reduces per-packet forwarding cost for the communications of mobile devices. With this approach, packets are routed thorough end-to-end tunnelling between communicating endpoints, which requires little change to Mobile IPv6, but allows more efficient forwarding behavior. The numerical analysis and simulation results show it requires less overhead than the standard route optimization and it helps to achieve a low end-to-end traffic delay.
PDF [323.6 kB]
Enabling Mobile IPv6 in Operational Environments ,
Xiaoming Fu , Hannes Tschofenig, Srinath Thiruvengadam, and Wenbing Yao, in: Pascal Lorenz (ed), Proceedings of the 10th IFIP International Conference on Personal Wireless Communications (PWC 2005), Colmar, France, pp. 365-372,
Imperial College Press, ISBN 1-86094-582-1, August 2005.
Read abstract
Although Mobile IPv6 allows maintaining transport layer connections alive when an IPv6 node roams to different access networks, certain enabling mechanisms are needed for it to work in large scale network scenarios, including, most notably, issues with Mobile IPv6 bootstrapping and firewall traversal. This paper tries to address these problems by extending the IETF PANA and NSIS protocols to form an extensible framework for wide deployment of a secure, light-weight mobility service in operational IPv6 environments.
PDF [162.4 kB]
RSVP Standards Today and the Path Towards a Generic Messenger ,
Xiaoming Fu , Jukka Manner, In: H. de Meer and N. Bhatti (eds.), Proceedings of the 13th International Workshop on Quality of Service (IWQoS 2005), Passau, Germany, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 3552,
Springer Verlag, ISBN 3-540-26294-6, June 2005.
Read abstract
RSVP is a very well-known protocol to support resource reservations in IP-based networks. This paper provides a preliminary inventory of RSVP standards and discusses the path towards a generic messenger for Internet signaling.
PDF [62.4 kB]
Modeling Route Change in Soft State Signaling Protocols Using SDL: a Case of RSVP ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , Constantin Werner , in A. Prinz, R. Reed and J. Reed (eds.), Proceedings of the 12th SDL Forum (SDL 2005), Grimstad, Norway, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 3530, pages 174-186,
Springer Verlag, ISBN 3-540-26612-7, June 2005.
Read abstract
Soft state signaling protocols install and maintain states in network nodes, expiring without receiving refreshes. These states require proper reparation when the flow path changes, especially in case of link or node failures. As the specifications usually do not describe in detail how to handle these failures, we present insights by developing SDL models for RSVP on this issue.
PDF [269.3 kB]
Modeling Soft State Protocols with SDL ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , In: R. Boutaba et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th IFIP International Conference on Networking (Networking 2005), Waterloo, Canada, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 3462, pp. 289-302,
Springer Verlag, ISBN 3-540-25809-4, May 2005.
Read abstract
Soft state provides new services to packet-switching networks by introducing a type of state in the network nodes which is refreshed by periodical messages and otherwise expires. The operations of soft state protocols, which are being designed with ever greater complexity, need to be error-free and deadlock-free to avoid misusing network resources. Thus, verification, formal analysis and validation of these protocols become a vital task. In this paper we utilize formal techniques, specifically Specification and Description Language (SDL) and Message Sequence Charts (MSCs), for modeling, analysis and validation of various soft state protocols. We propose a general architecture for state management systems and find employing these techniques can help identify and correct possible design errors, which may be caused by informal specifications.
PDF [162.9 kB]
Analysis of Existing Quality-of-Service Signaling Protocols ,
Xiaoming Fu , and Jukka Manner, Request for Comment (RFC) 4094,
Internet Engineering Task Force, May 2005.
Read abstract
This document reviews some of the existing Quality of Service (QoS) signaling protocols for an IP network. The goal here is to learn from them and to avoid common misconceptions. Further, we need to avoid mistakes during the design and implementation of any new protocol in this area.
PDF [68.0 kB]
Performance Analysis of the TCP/IP Stack of Linux Kernel 2.6.9 ,
Xiaoming Fu , Niklas Steinleitner , Jan Demter, Christian Dickmann, and Henning Peters, Technical Report No. IFI-TB-2005-03, Institute for Informatics, University of Göttingen, Germany,
ISSN 1611-1044, April 2005.
Read abstract
This document reports the project "performance study of the TCP/IP stack for the Linux kernel" which we performed during the practical course Computer Networks in winter semester 2004/05, including its design, implementation and performance results. We analysed the packet processing time traversing each layer of the Linux kernel 2.6.9 TCP/IP stack (socket, TCP/UDP, IP and Ethernet) and the influence of multi-threading and different packet sizes. The design is based on the idea of inserting probing points via hooks in the kernel code and export timing data to a userspace application. A packet generator and analysis tools were also developed. The results demonstrate a number of key concepts in TCP/IP networking, such as layering, user-system interface, connection versus datagram modes, processing routines and their overhead in different layers. Some preliminary results reveal the system has its bottlenecks in different situations, and our tools released under GPL-license have been designed in such a way that allows easy extensibility for other networking diagnostics purposes.
PDF [246.1 kB]
A Review of Mobility Support Paradigms for the Internet ,
Xiaoming Fu , Dieter Hogrefe , Deguang Le , Technical Report No. IFI-TB-2005-01, Institute for Informatics, University of Göttingen,
ISSN 1611-1044, January 2005.
