Toward an internet protocol (version 6) deployable information-centric framework

Abstract

This research defines a new information-centric networking (ICN) framework and associated protocol that is implementable in the existing internet with feasible minimal changes to the existing internet infrastructure. We create a protocol that assigns globally unique data item names and embeds these names, plus associated metadata, into an IPv6 header. This technique allows the use of the existing IPsec suite of protocols to mitigate user privacy and security concerns which exist in other existing non-implementable ICN designs. We demonstrate that this technique allows the use of standard routing and switching methods, which ensures network stability and reachability, and it permits self-assembly into internetworks. Next, we analyze the layer four functionality which must be provided by a general-purpose transport protocol, and we give an initial implementation which is used by our prototype. Lastly, using the Mininet network virtualization suite, we show that using RFC-compliant IPv6 datagrams as the named content allows information-centric routing and switching to be done using unmodified hardware and software, and that it also ensures backwards compatibility with unmodified networks.