Simple and efficient ICN network virtualization with vICN

Abstract

Information-Centric Networking (ICN) has been proposed as an alternative to IP for future networks such as 5G. To speed up its development and adoption, researchers and engineers require testing tools that are both simple and scalable. In particular, it is crucial to be able to quickly deploy ICN-enabled network topologies in a flexible and efficient manner. In this demonstration, we showcase vICN (virtualized ICN), a platform that enables easy deployment, orchestration and management of ICN networks. vICN uses standard virtualization technologies such as Linux Containers (LXC) and is fully integrated with the CICN suite to enable flexible testing of ICN technologies on general-purpose hardware. Furthermore, it can perform live monitoring and modification of the network. In particular, we use vICN to deploy a simple topology that consists of 9 nodes. We show that vICN bootstraps the topology in about 60s on commodity hardware. We then demonstrate how vICN interacts with the virtualized network and how it can be used for easy experimentation.