Award Abstract # 2118311
CyberTraining: Implementation: Small: Cybertraining on P4 Programmable Devices using an Online Scalable Platform with Physical and Virtual Switches and Real Protocol Stacks

NSF Org: OAC
Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC)
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Initial Amendment Date: August 31, 2021
Latest Amendment Date: August 31, 2021
Award Number: 2118311
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Sharmistha Bagchi-Sen
shabagch@nsf.gov
 (703)292-8104
OAC
 Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC)
CSE
 Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering
Start Date: October 1, 2021
End Date: September 30, 2026 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $499,540.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $499,540.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2021 = $499,540.00
History of Investigator:
  • Jorge Crichigno (Principal Investigator)
    jcrichigno@cec.sc.edu
  • Neset Hikmet (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of South Carolina at Columbia
1600 HAMPTON ST
COLUMBIA
SC  US  29208-3403
(803)777-7093
Sponsor Congressional District: 06
Primary Place of Performance: University of South Carolina at Columbia
Columbia
SC  US  29208-0001
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
06
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): J22LNTMEDP73
Parent UEI: Q93ZDA59ZAR5
NSF Program(s): CyberTraining - Training-based
Primary Program Source: 01002122DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 9102, 9150
Program Element Code(s): 044Y00
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.070

ABSTRACT

Traditionally, the data plane of network devices has been designed with fixed functions to forward data packets, using a small set of communication protocols. This closed-design paradigm has limited the capability of switches to costly proprietary implementations that are hard-coded by vendors. Recently, data plane programmability has attracted significant attention, permitting the owners of communication networks to use switches with customized processing functions. While large companies are now using programmable platforms, campus networks and small- and medium-sized enterprises have yet to fully benefit from the advantages of P4, the de-facto standard for programming the data plane. A key barrier preventing faster adoption of P4 is the availability of engaging training material for cyberinfrastructure (CI) professionals that focuses on the operation and management of P4 systems. This project addresses the gap by developing hands-on virtual labs that run on a platform for online instruction, referred to as the academic cloud. The project will lower the entry barrier to innovation through P4 technology, which will enable CI professionals to reduce the time to design, test, and adopt new communication protocols; devise new customized applications; understand the behavior of data packets as they travel across networks; develop more effective defenses against cybersecurity attacks; and improve the performance of applications used in essential areas such as cybersecurity, Internet of Things (IoT), congestion control, and others.

The first goal of the project is to facilitate the adoption of programmable P4 devices by CI professionals and by network owners in general, by developing virtual labs. The second goal is to promote the integration of P4 and virtual labs into academic degree programs at the associate, bachelor, and graduate levels. Equipment used in virtual labs consists of production-grade devices such as software switches (e.g., Open vSwitch, PISCES), hardware switches based on state-of-the-art Tofino chips, and open-source operating systems and controllers (e.g., Open Network Linux, Open Network Operating System). For virtual labs using physical devices, the equipment pods incorporate P4 programmable hardware switches that are attached to the cloud and are managed via remote-access capability. Virtual labs provide both functional and traffic realism, as they use the same equipment as in real deployments and generate interactive network traffic. They emulate communications across local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), campus networks, data centers, and high-performance systems. The project will organize workshops to create awareness of this new technology and virtual labs resources, and to train CI professionals on P4. Workshops are co-organized and broadly disseminated through collaborators that play a critical role in enhancing and securing the national cyberinfrastructure: ESnet, the high-performance network that carries science traffic for the U.S. Department of Energy, including the National Laboratory system; and Internet2 and Front Range GigaPOP, two Research and Education Networks (RENs) that operate national and regional communication backbones. Finally, in coordination with the Western Academy Support and Training Center, one of the main technical training centers in the U.S. for two- and four-year instruction, and the Network Development Group, a company in virtualized training, the project will train IT instructors interested in the P4 technology.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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(Showing: 1 - 10 of 12)
Mazloum, Ali and AlSabeh, Ali and Kfoury, Elie and Crichigno, Jorge "perfSONAR: Enhancing Data Collection through Adaptive Sampling" , 2024 https://doi.org/10.1109/NOMS59830.2024.10575840 Citation Details
Kfoury, Elie F and Choueiri, Samia and Mazloum, Ali and AlSabeh, Ali and Gomez, Jose and Crichigno, Jorge "A Comprehensive Survey on SmartNICs: Architectures, Development Models, Applications, and Research Directions" IEEE Access , v.12 , 2024 https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3437203 Citation Details
Kfoury, Elie and Crichigno, Jorge and Bou-Harb, Elias "P4BS: Leveraging Passive Measurements From P4 Switches to Dynamically Modify a Routers Buffer Size" IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1109/TNSM.2023.3306335 Citation Details
Kfoury, Elie and Crichigno, Jorge and Bou-Harb, Elias "P4Tune: Enabling Programmability in Non-Programmable Networks" IEEE Communications Magazine , v.61 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOM.001.2200287 Citation Details
Gomez, Jose and Kfoury, Elie F. and Crichigno, Jorge and Srivastava, Gautam "A survey on TCP enhancements using P4-programmable devices" Computer Networks , v.212 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2022.109030 Citation Details
Gomez, Jose and Kfoury, Elie F and Crichigno, Jorge and Srivastava, Gautam "Evaluating TCP BBRv3 performance in wired broadband networks" Computer Communications , v.222 , 2024 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comcom.2024.04.037 Citation Details
Gomez, Jose and Kfoury, Elie F. and Crichigno, Jorge "Enabling P4 Hands-on Training in an Academic Cloud" International Workshop on Test and Evaluation of Programmable Networks , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1109/DCOSS54816.2022.00077 Citation Details
AlSabeh, Ali and Khoury, Joseph and Kfoury, Elie and Crichigno, Jorge and Bou-Harb, Elias "A survey on security applications of P4 programmable switches and a STRIDE-based vulnerability assessment" Computer Networks , v.207 , 2022 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2022.108800 Citation Details
AlSabeh, Ali and Kfoury, Elie and Crichigno, Jorge and Bou-Harb, Elias "P4DDPI: Securing P4-Programmable Data Plane Networks via DNS Deep Packet Inspection" NDSS Symposium 2022 , 2022 Citation Details
AlSabeh, Ali and Friday, Kurt and Kfoury, Elie and Crichigno, Jorge and Bou-Harb, Elias "On DGA Detection and Classification Using P4 Programmable Switches" Computers & Security , v.145 , 2024 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2024.104007 Citation Details
Vega, Christian and Kfoury, Elie F and Gomez, Jose and Pezoa, Jorge E and Figueroa, Miguel and Crichigno, Jorge "Machine learning controller for data rate management in science DMZ networks" Computer Networks , v.242 , 2024 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2024.110237 Citation Details
(Showing: 1 - 10 of 12)

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