2017/11/07 by Dinesh Subhraveti, Subhraveti, Dinesh, Sri Goli +7
Computer Science · #Computer network #Computer science #Computer security #Distributed computing #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Firewall (physics) #Host (biology) #Identity (music) #Layer (electronics) #Network Security and Intrusion Detection #Networking and Internet Architecture (cs.NI) #Operating Systems (cs.OS) #Operating system #Software System Performance and Reliability #Software deployment #Software-Defined Networks and 5G #Transport layer #Workaround #cs.NI #cs.OS
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1711.02294
openalex publication_date 2017/11/07 · arxiv created 2017/11/08 · arxiv updated 2017/11/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Networked applications traditionally derive their identity from the identity of the host on which they run. The default application identity acquired from the host results in subtle and substantial problems related to application deployment, discovery and access, especially for modern distributed applications. A number of mechanisms and workarounds, often quite elaborate, are used to address those problems but they only address them indirectly and incompletely. This paper presents AppSwitch, a novel transport layer network element that decouples applications from underlying network at the system call layer and enables them to be identified independently of the network. Without requiring changes to existing applications or infrastructure, it removes the cost and complexity associated with operating distributed applications while offering a number of benefits including an efficient implementation of common network functions such as application firewall and load balancer. Experiments with our implementation show that AppSwitch model also effectively removes the performance penalty associated with unnecessary data path processing that is typical in those application environments.