Let's Collect Names: How PANINI Limits FIB Tables in Name Based Routing

Abstract

Name-based routing as proposed in Information Centric Networking encounters the problems of (a) exploding routing tables, as the number of names largely exceeds common routing resources, and (b) limited aggregation potentials, as names are commonly independent of content locations. In this paper, we introduce Partial Adaptive Name Information in ICN (PANINI), an approach to scale routing on names. PANINI aggregates names at (virtual) collectors and adapts FIB tables simultaneously to available resources and actual traffic patterns. PANINI introduces routing hierarchies and prefix-specific default routes, bimodal FIBs, and confined flooding. We thoroughly evaluate the approach in theory and practical experiments. Our findings indicate that effective reductions in control state largely outweigh overheads in control traffic.