| Abstract: |
Active networking in environments built to support link rates up to several gigabits per second poses many challenges. One such challenge is that the memory bandwidth and individual
processing power of the router?s microprocessors limit the total available processing power of a router. In this paper, we identify and describe three key components, which promise a high
performance active network solution. This solution implements the key features typical to active networking, such as automatic protocol deployment and appli-cation specific processing, and it is
suitable for a gigabit environment. First, we describe the hardware of the Active Network Node (ANN), a scalable, high performance platform based on off-the-shelf CPUs con-nected to a gigabit ATM
switch backplane. Second, we introduce the ANN?s modular, extensible and highly efficient operating system (NodeOS). Third, we describe an Execution Environment running on top of the NodeOS,
which implements a novel large-scale active networking architecture called ?Distributed Code Caching?. |
