From 9877f978e4e9783449187d8f13fc0c15dede4b3b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dimitri Staessens Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2021 19:11:13 +0100 Subject: blog: Outlook for 2022 --- content/en/blog/20211226-2022andbeyond.md | 89 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 89 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/en/blog/20211226-2022andbeyond.md (limited to 'content') diff --git a/content/en/blog/20211226-2022andbeyond.md b/content/en/blog/20211226-2022andbeyond.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3bdb8e2 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/en/blog/20211226-2022andbeyond.md @@ -0,0 +1,89 @@ +--- +date: 2021-12-26 +title: "A brief look into 2022" +linkTitle: "Plans for 2022" +description: "Quo vadis?" +author: Dimitri Staessens +--- + +``` +A discipline doesn’t mean that you make sure that you have breakfast +at eight o’clock in the morning and you are out of the house by half +past eight. A discipline is that you… if you conceive some thing, then +you decide whether or not it’s worth following through, and if it’s +worth following through then you follow it through to its logical +conclusion, and do it with the best… to the best of your +ability. That’s a discipline, yes? -- David Bowie +``` + +With the end of the year in sight, it's time for a bit of reflection. + +Of course, 2021 was still in the grip of the pandemic. The delta and +omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 prove to be some of the most contageous +viruses known to date. Evolution driving emerging coronavirus variants +that reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines is a big blow for all to +bear. The fight against this strain can only be won if we all fight +together, with respect for the health workers that have been standing +in the front lines for almost two years now. Follow sound medical +advice, and stay safe. + +Of course, I'm here to reflect on the Ouroboros (O7s) project. 2021 +was a bit of a slow year, not in the least because of my own +motivation -- or lack of it. But some things are worth mentioning. + +We rewrote how O7s runs over UDP/IPv4. Instead of using of UDP ports +to mimic the concepts of port IDs as outlined in RINA, we caved in and +realigned the O7s ipcpd-udp to work more as a "normal" UDP +service. The UDP port is not re-used as an Endpoint ID; instead, we +added a small header to the protocol stack, and use a UDP-UDP tunnel +to transport O7s traffic. This means that clients connecting to +an O7s network from behind a NAT firewall will not need to add +port forwarding rules. This should make things easier for people +trying Ouroboros over IP. + +We removed support for Raptor. Raptor was our NetFPGA demo to run +Ouroboros point-to-point over Ethernet Layer 1 without the use of +Ethernet MAC layer and addressing. The plan for Raptor was also to +include a driver that maps user-space memory (like netmap, but then +tailored to the O7s shared memory layout) to reduce context switches +to the kernel when sending high packet rates and thus boost +performance. However, given the niche hardware requirements and our +current limited resources, we decided to remove it from the project +instead of continuing to maintain this. + +The most important feature this year is probably the InfluxDB +exporter, which adds a layer of observability to the project and +allows us to better monitor the internals for much needed debugging so +we can stabilize the implementation. + +2021 also brought an unexpected surprise, in that we received a review +from the paper we submitted to the Journal of the ACM. After more than +2 years, we were not expecting any review anymore. Getting review +comments on an article always comes with mixed feelings. The paper was +rejected, and I agree with that outcome. But the quality of the peer +review was extremely disappointing. For a journal of such standing, +having only a single reviewer doesn't feel acceptable to me. It's a +waste of time -- both to me and to the reviewers -- to even try to +improve and re-submit a paper. Eo Romam iterum crucifigi. + +So, what's up for 2022? Right now the focus is on **scalablility of +the O7s routing system**. To dynamically construct the addressing for +a network, bottom-up. To build a global-scale network by continuously +aggregating independent smaller networks, possibly with different +routing protocols and different naming schemes, without causing +disruptions to existing services in those networks. This will need +some changes in the datapath implementation and support in the flow +management for multiple data transfer components and multiple +directories. If this sounds interesting, stay tuned. + +Finally, I'm infinitely grateful to anyone that took the time to give +the prototype a go and then reported back on things that didn't go as +they expected. This is a very small project, I have only so much time +I can put in, and any bug reports and constructive feedback are really +appreciated. That's how this can be taken forward. Do keep it coming. + +My best wishes for 2022. + +Stay healthy, and above all, stay curious. + +Dimitri -- cgit v1.2.3