VROOM: Virtual ROuters On the Move

Abstract

Network management is the proverbial “elephant in the room”-the pressing problem we all know is plaguing the Internet, yet seems intractable to solve. Each new management challenge leads to a new point solution, such as a new configuration script, measurement tool, or protocol extension. In this paper, we argue that many network-management problems stem from the same root cause-the need to maintain consistency between the physical and logical configuration of routers. Instead, we believe that future networks should break this tight coupling by allowing (virtual) routers to freely move from one physical node to another, without changing the IP-layer topology. Our VROOM (Virtual ROuters On the Move) architecture supports live virtual router migration and re-mapping of virtual links, by capitalizing on recent innovations in programmable transport networks, packet-aware access networks, virtual server migration and virtual router technologies. Preliminary experiments with a simple prototype, built using Xen and the Linux routing software, show that VROOM is feasible in practice. We believe that virtual router migration will simplify a variety of network-management tasks, including planned maintenance, service deployment, and minimizing power consumption.