What Are We Working On Now?

• Network Processor Routers (NPRs) (Summer 2008) 14 new routers based on Intel's IXP network processors were added to the ONL testbed in early 2008 and used in the spring 2008 Advanced Architecture course taught by Patrick Crowley. The routers are configured using an RLI that is conceptually the same as the one used for the NSP routers. This means that network processor plugins and even the routing code itself can be modified by the user and experiments run through the RLI using the existing paradigm. Activity during the summer include:
  • Feature testing
  • Adding plugins similar to those in the NSPs.
  • Tutorial material on the NPRs
• More Traffic Generators (Summer 2008) We are looking into traffic generators in addition to iperf.
• Course Material (Summer 2008) Complete tutorial pages with recipes, examples, demo gallery, code walks, etc. There's a lot there now, but we are continuing to expand the tutorial pages, especially Tutorial => Course Material. We will be incorporating new exercises that were developed at Washington University, and University of Massachusetts.
• NetFPGA We are experimenting with adding NetFPGA to our testbed.
• Traffic Generators
  • We have beta versions of a hardware traffic generator.
  • We are installing SPECweb2005.

Definitions

• Test Mode: May be turned on and off.
• Beta: Should be better than Test Mode.

What's New?

• If you encounter problems with the testbed or have requests, send email to testbed-ops@onl.arl.wustl.edu .
• New RLIs (2008):
  • The RLIs for the NSPs are different than the ones for the NPRs.
  • The current NSP RLI jar file is here (Feb 5, 2008). All older jar files are invalid. You should first read the new Getting Started page.
    Note: It is important that you save your configuration/experiment files before switching to a new version of the RLI because the formats may be different.
  • There is no public RLI jar file for the NPRs at this time, but look for one sometime in August 2008.
• Linux 2.6 and Other End Host OSes (Winter 2007) We have upgraded end hosts to Linux 2.6.21, Fedora Core 7.
• TCP Reno (Winter 2007) The default TCP version is now TCP Reno (without SACK). A user will be able to change to BIC at a future date.
• tcpdump (Winter 2007) Users can run the tcpdump command through the tcpdumpW command. See "Tutorial => Summary Information => User Tools => tcpdump".
• Router Upgrade (Spring 2008) Various fixes to the FPX's were made. These include:
  • Exact Match filters and Route Table entries now have proper statistics
  • General Match filters now have the ability to match on the TCP flags field (URG, ACK, PSH, RST, SYN, FIN)
  • Auxilliary filters now have a sampling option where you can elect to sample 100%, 50%, or 25% of the packets.
• General Resource Description Framework (Spring 2008) Our new resource description framework allowed us to add support for the new Network Processor Routers (NPRs) in only two months in early 2008. We continue to work on parts related to the GENI Project.