Facilitating ICN deployment with an extended openflow protocol

Named-Data Networking (NDN) is proposed as an approach to evolve the Internet infrastructure from a host- to an information-centric (ICN) approach, which is better suited to the current usage of the Internet. However, the deployment of a global NDN-based Internet is still a long way out of reach. The most likely scenario for a global NDN network will be the one based on NDN 'islands' or domains, where interior forwarding and routing of packets is based on NDN principles. The interconnection of NDN domains involves human configuration to set up IP tunnels, implying an unscalable, tedious and error-prone process resulting in static configuration incapable of reacting to ad-hoc requirements or network changes. Leveraging the flexibility of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) can solve aforementioned problems. Due to its dynamic nature, SDN can automatically recognize an NDN service and instruct switches to set up the configuration for actual service deployment. Such a solution significantly eases the deployment of NDN networks. In this paper, we propose a hybrid solution where we combine Software-Defined Networking, more specifically OpenFlow, and eBPF to perform control plane configuration and data plane programmability respectively, to realize connectivity within and across NDN domains. To do so, we have designed eBPF filters that match on NDN traffic, extended the OpenFlow protocol to configure switch data planes with these match filters and enhanced an OpenFlow switch to act accordingly. Our OpenFlow controller written for Ryu performs routing on NDN names and configures switches correspondingly. Additionally, our controller detects NDN domains and sets up IP tunnels between them. Our evaluation shows that our proof-of-concept on, among others, the SciNet testbed autoconfigures an NDN network, successfully providing end-to-end NDN network functionality across multiple domains.