EIP - Extensible In-band Processing
EIP extends the functionality of IPv6 layer to support the requirements of future Internet services / 6G networks.
In a nutshell, IPv6 nodes can read/write EIP information in packet headers to support different use cases (e.g. advanced monitoring, semantic routing, deterministic networking, slicing… ).
EIP provides a common solution which can be tailored for the different use cases. Each use case will have its own specific architectural aspects and protocol specifications. The following figure shows potential use cases for EIP.
Scientific papers on EIP
S.Salsano, G.Sidoretti, C.Scarpitta, H.ElBakoury, D. Lopez, L.Bracciale, P.Loreti, “Supporting Future Internet Services with Extensible In-band Processing (EIP)”, accepted to 1st ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Future of Internet Routing & Addressing (FIRA) download pdf
Presentations on EIP
Extensible In-band Processing (EIP) @ IETF RTGWG
Presentation given at IETF RTGWG interim meeting on June 21st, 2022
Extensible In-band Processing (EIP) @ IRTF COIN RG
Presentation given at IRTF COIN RG interim meeting on February 10th 2022.
EIP documents
S.Salsano, H.ElBakoury, D.Lopez,
“Extensible In-band Processing (EIP) Architecture and Framework”,
Internet Draft draft-eip-arch
S.Salsano, H.ElBakoury, D. Lopez,
“Extensible In-band Processing (EIP) Use Cases”,
in preparation draft-eip-use-cases.txt
S.Salsano, G.Sidoretti, C.Scarpitta, H.ElBakoury,
“Extensible In-band Processing (EIP) Headers Definitions”,
in preparation draft-eip-headers-definitions.html
Special Interest Group on EIP
An informal Special Interest Group is active to discuss EIP use cases, architecture and protocol specifications. A mailing list and a wiki have been setup.
The mailing list address is eip@cnit.it. Subscribe to the mailing list and access the list archives here.
The wiki is available here
EIP prototypes and testbeds
An open source prototype of EIP for Linux (based on eBPF) is under development and is available. It is based on two main components:
- Scapy based packet generator / dissector
- EIP aware router
The EIP aware router is based on eBPF/XDP. It builds upon the HIKe/eCLAT framework.
The basic EIP prototype is a docker container which includes:
- the development environment for EIP
- a testbed with 4 “namespaces” that implement EIP Packet generator/dissector and EIP aware router
The topology that is provided for the experiments and tests is shown hereafter.
A more advanced testbed is a Virtual Machine (available as an .ova image for Virtualbox and VMware hypervisors). In the Virtual Machine it is possible to deploy an emulated network with 8 routers and 15 hosts. The 8 routers emulate an IPv6 backbone with dynamic routing (ISIS protocol). Routers and hosts in the emulated network can execute the EIP prototype as needed to demonstrate complex scenarios involving several nodes.
