NDN forwards by name rather than address and keeps per-packet state in the data plane. iStack takes NDN into the OS kernel for the first time while staying compatible with the existing address-based stack and socket interfaces.
Tianlong Li · Tian Song · Yating Yang
Beijing Institute of Technology
iStack
A kernel stack that brings NDN name resolution, per-packet state and address interfaces together without changing how applications use the network.
Venue
NSDI '24
Stack
in-kernel
Focus
NDN
Tianlong Li · Tian Song · Yating Yang
Beijing Institute of Technology
01 / Research pillars
Putting NDN into a general-purpose OS is not a matter of moving a userspace forwarder into the kernel; it is a matter of repositioning names, state and address interfaces.
01
Forwarding and local delivery share one name resolution architecture, keeping lookups on the kernel data path.
Read the design02
A face abstraction over MAC, IP and port lets name semantics sit on top of the existing kernel network architecture.
Read the design03
Applications keep their socket programming model while NDN capabilities are introduced incrementally.
Read the design04
6.50 Gbps throughput, a 16.25× speedup and 46.08% lower cached-packet latency form the paper's core evidence.
Read the design02 / Inside the kernel
iStack puts name resolution, per-packet state and address abstraction into one kernel stack. Interest and Data travel the same path, carrying different state.
One name resolution architecture serves both network-layer forwarding and local packet demultiplexing.
The two-layer face system folds MAC, IP and port into one abstraction without asking devices to understand NDN.
PIT, CS and FIB form the core of per-packet state; compact data structures keep the memory cost in check.
Per-packet state, compactly organised
The PIT tracks pending Interests, the CS caches Data, and the FIB maps name prefixes to faces.
Address interfaces, name semantics
MAC, IP and port remain the reality of devices and links; faces bring them under name semantics.
03 / Evaluation
iStack set out to show not only that NDN can run in the kernel, but that it can run at usable performance. These results come from the NSDI '24 paper.
Read the evaluationValues are reported in the paper abstract. Testbed setup, hardware and comparison details are in the paper itself.
The paper / NSDI '24
Tianlong Li · Tian Song · Yating Yang
Beijing Institute of Technology
iStack is the first NDN protocol stack implemented inside the OS kernel. It combines in-kernel name resolution, a two-layer face system and socket-compatible interfaces, keeping per-packet state and name-based forwarding on the kernel data path while preserving the existing network stack model.
iStack / USENIX NSDI '24
04 / Field notes
Design trade-offs, implementation details and experimental observations appear as notes before they settle into documentation.
All notesStart here
Start with the project overview, or open the NSDI '24 paper and PDF directly.