arXiv subjects

Frederik Hauser

Publications and source records attributed to Frederik Hauser.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2021

A Survey on Data Plane Programming with P4: Fundamentals, Advances, and Applied Research

Programmable data planes allow users to define their own data plane algorithms for network devices including appropriate data plane application programming interfaces (APIs) which may be leveraged by user-defined software-defined networking (SDN) control. This offers great flexibility for network customization, be it for specialized, commercial appliances, e.g., in 5G or data center networks, or for rapid prototyping in industrial and academic research. Programming protocol-independent packet processors (P4) has emerged as the currently most widespread abstraction, programming language, and concept for data plane programming. It is developed and standardized by an open community, and it is supported by various software and hardware platforms. In the first part of this paper we give a tutorial of data plane programming models, the P4 programming language, architectures, compilers, targets, and data plane APIs. We also consider research efforts to advance P4 technology. In the second part, we categorize a large body of literature of P4-based applied research into different research domains, summarize the contributions of these papers, and extract prototypes, target platforms, and source code availability. For each research domain, we analyze how the reviewed works benefit from P4's core features. Finally, we discuss potential next steps based on our findings.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2019

P4-IPsec: Site-to-Site and Host-to-Site VPN with IPsec in P4-Based SDN

In this work, we present P4-IPsec, a concept for IPsec in software-defined networks (SDN) using P4 programmable data planes. The prototype implementation features ESP in tunnel mode and supports different cipher suites. P4-capable switches are programmed to serve as IPsec tunnel endpoints. We also provide a client agent to configure tunnel endpoints on Linux hosts so that site-to-site and host-to-site application scenarios can be supported which are the base for virtual private networks (VPNs). While traditional VPNs require complex key exchange protocols like IKE to set up and renew tunnel endpoints, P4-IPsec benefits from an SDN controller to accomplish these tasks. One goal of this experimental work is to investigate how well P4-IPsec can be implemented on existing P4 switches. We present a prototype for the BMv2 P4 software switch, evaluate its performance, and publish its source code on GitHub. We explain why we could not provide a useful implementation with the NetFPGA SUME board. For the Edgecore Wedge 100BF-32X Tofino-based switch, we presented two prototype implementations to cope with a missing crypto unit. As another contribution of this paper, we provide technological background of P4 and IPsec and give a comprehensive review of security applications in P4, IPsec in SDN, and IPsec data plane implementations. According to our knowledge, P4-IPsec is the first implementation of IPsec for P4-based SDN.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2019

xRAC: Execution and Access Control for Restricted Application Containers on Managed Hosts

We propose xRAC to permit users to run special applications on managed hosts and to grant them access to protected network resources. We use restricted application containers (RACs) for that purpose. A RAC is a virtualization container with only a selected set of applications. Authentication verifies the RAC user's identity and the integrity of the RAC image. If the user is permitted to use the RAC on a managed host, launching the RAC is authorized and access to protected network resources may be given, e.g., to internal networks, servers, or the Internet. xRAC simplifies traffic control as the traffic of a RAC has a unique IPv6 address so that it can be easily identified in the network. The architecture of xRAC reuses standard technologies, protocols, and infrastructure. Those are the Docker virtualization platform and 802.1X including EAP-over-UDP and RADIUS. Thus, xRAC improves network security without modifying core parts of applications, hosts, and infrastructure. In this paper, we review the technological background of xRAC, explain its architecture, discuss selected use cases, and investigate on the performance. To demonstrate the feasibility of xRAC, we implement it based on standard components with only a few modifications. Finally, we validate xRAC through experiments.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2019

P4-MACsec: Dynamic Topology Monitoring and Data Layer Protection with MACsec in P4-SDN

We propose P4-MACsec to protect network links between P4 switches through automated deployment of MACsec, a widespread IEEE standard for securing Layer 2 infrastructures. It is supported by switches and routers from major manufacturers and has only little performance limitations compared to VPN technologies such as IPsec. P4-MACsec introduces a data plane implementation of MACsec including AES-GCM encryption and decryption directly on P4 switches. P4-MACsec features a two-tier control plane structure where local controllers running on the P4 switches interact with a central controller. We propose a novel secure link discovery mechanism that leverages protected LLDP frames and the two-tier control plane structure for secure and efficient management of a global link map. Automated deployment of MACsec creates secure channel, generates keying material, and configures the P4 switches for each detected link between two P4 switches. It detects link changes and performs rekeying to provide a secure, configuration-free operation of MACsec. In this paper, we review the technological background of P4-MACsec and explain its architecture. To demonstrate the feasibility of P4-MACsec, we implement it on the BMv2 P4 software switch and validate the prototype through experiments. We evaluate its performance through experiments that focus on TCP throughput and round-trip time. We publish the prototype and experiment setups on Github.

cs.NI↗