Deployment and scalability of an inter-domain multi-path routing infrastructure

Abstract

Path aware networking (PAN) is a promising approach that enables endpoints to participate in end-to-end path selection. PAN unlocks numerous benefits, such as fast failover after link failures, application-based path selection and optimization, and native interdomain multi-path. The utility of PAN hinges on the availability of a large number of high-quality path options. In an inter-domain context, two core questions arise. Can we deploy such an architecture natively in today’s Internet infrastructure without creating an overlay relying on BGP? Can we build a scalable multi-path routing system that provides a large number of high-quality paths? We first report on the real-world native deployment of the SCION next-generation architecture, providing a usable PAN infrastructure operating in parallel to today’s Internet. We then analyze the scalability of the architecture in an Internet-scale topology. Finally, we introduce a new routing approach to further improve scalability