The case for resilient overlay networks
David G. Andersen, Hari Balakrishnan, M. Frans Kaashoek, Robert Morris
Abstract
In this paper, we motivate and describe the architecture of
Resilient Overlay Networks (RON), an application-level packet
forwarding service that gives end-hosts and applications the
ability to take advantage of network paths that traditional
Internet routing \emph{cannot} make use of, thereby improving their
end-to-end reliability and performance. A RON system consists of a
per-host forwarding and routing system; programs to measure the
quality of paths between participating hosts; and mechanisms for
interpreting this measured data and making routing decisions based
upon that interpretation. RONs are usable as a purely user-level
library system, with kernel support for packet encapsulation, or as
a router to overlay entire leaf networks. We explain the reasons
for the architectural design of RON, and argue that end-host
controlled Resilient Overlay Networks provide a good framework for
distributed applications to transmit data with greater robustness
and higher performance over the wide-area Internet.