Abstract

Deeply embedded in some ICN architectures, especially Named Data Networking (NDN) and Content-Centric Networking (CCNx) is the notion of flow balance. This captures the idea that there is a one-to-one correspondence between requests for data, carried in Interest messages, and the responses with the requested data object, carried in Data messages. This has a number of highly beneficial properties for flow and congestion control in networks, as well as some desirable security properties. For example, neither legitimate users nor attackers are able to inject large amounts of un-requested data into the network. Existing congestion control approaches however have a difficult time dealing effectively with a widely varying MTU of ICN data messages, because the protocols allow a dynamic range of 1-64K bytes. Since Interest messages are used to allocate the reverse link bandwidth for returning Data, there is large uncertainty in how to allocate that bandwidth. Unfortunately, most current congestion control schemes in CCNx and NDN only count Interest messages and have no idea how much data is involved that could congest the inverse link. This document proposes a method to maintain flow balance by accommodating the wide dynamic range in Data message size.

Authors

David Oran (daveoran@orandom.net)

(Note: The e-mail addresses provided for the authors of this Internet-Draft may no longer be valid.)