Towards enabling green routing services in real networks

Energy-efficient/green routing protocols aim at optimizing the energy consumption of networks. Such solutions usually require to take coordinated actions between routers to setup a green network topology. Green routing protocols have been studied theoretically and using simulations; however, they have not been implemented or tested yet in real routing protocols. Therefore, it is difficult to assess the viability and efficiency of such green solutions in real operational networks. In this article, we aim at bridging the gap between theory and practice in the field of green routing. We report the lessons learned when enabling an energy-efficient routing protocol built on top of the OSPF implementation of Quagga, a popular software router used in operational networks. Firstly, we show that the coordination between green-enabled routers, which requires exchanging special or modified routing information, can be added without introducing new message types and with minimum changes to the routing protocol implementation while maintaining full compatibility with legacy routers. Secondly, we consider the modifications that should be done to prevent inconsistencies since green-enabled routers need to exchange special routing updates that affect the calculation of routing tables. Finally, we demonstrate that our first prototype can draw a more energy-efficient network topology, while preserving the stability of the network, its reconfiguration capabilities and compatibility between green and legacy routers.

[1]  Juan Li,et al.  An overview of energy efficiency techniques in cluster computing systems , 2013, Cluster Computing.

[2]  Walid Dabbous,et al.  Direct code execution: revisiting library OS architecture for reproducible network experiments , 2013, CoNEXT.

[3]  Marco Listanti,et al.  An OSPF enhancement for energy saving in IP networks , 2011, 2011 IEEE Conference on Computer Communications Workshops (INFOCOM WKSHPS).

[4]  Min Zhu,et al.  B4: experience with a globally-deployed software defined wan , 2013, SIGCOMM.

[5]  Marina Thottan,et al.  Adapting router buffers for energy efficiency , 2011, CoNEXT '11.

[6]  Stefano Avallone,et al.  Energy efficient online routing of flows with additive constraints , 2012, Comput. Networks.

[7]  Alice Chen,et al.  Multi-Topology design and link weight assignment for green IP networks , 2011, 2011 IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications (ISCC).

[8]  Marco Listanti,et al.  An Energy Saving Routing Algorithm for a Green OSPF Protocol , 2010, 2010 INFOCOM IEEE Conference on Computer Communications Workshops.

[9]  Alice Chen,et al.  Link weight assignment and loop-free routing table update for link state routing protocols in energy-aware internet , 2012, Future Gener. Comput. Syst..

[10]  John Jose,et al.  DeBAR: Deflection based adaptive router with minimal buffering , 2013, 2013 Design, Automation & Test in Europe Conference & Exhibition (DATE).

[11]  John Moy,et al.  OSPF Version 2 , 1998, RFC.

[12]  Albert Y. Zomaya,et al.  A Taxonomy and Survey of Energy-Efficient Data Centers and Cloud Computing Systems , 2010, Adv. Comput..

[13]  Isabelle Guérin Lassous,et al.  ECOFEN: An End-to-end energy Cost mOdel and simulator For Evaluating power consumption in large-scale Networks , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks.

[14]  Xavier Hesselbach,et al.  Greener networking in a network virtualization environment , 2013, Comput. Networks.

[15]  Edoardo Amaldi,et al.  Energy management in IP traffic engineering with Shortest Path routing , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Symposium on a World of Wireless, Mobile and Multimedia Networks.

[16]  Stephen J. Wright,et al.  Power Awareness in Network Design and Routing , 2008, IEEE INFOCOM 2008 - The 27th Conference on Computer Communications.