Core Networking: 2008

Multi-core networking

6Wind has ported its Linux-based multi-core networking stack to a new PowerPC-based networking system-on-chip (SoC) from Freescale Semiconductor. The 6WindGate stack now supports Freescale's upcoming QorIQ P4080, having been ported to the platform using Virtutech's Simics simulation environment, the company says.

The 6WindGate stack is aimed at telecommunications, security, and networking equipment manufacturers, says the company. It includes routing, security, QoS (quality-of-service), mobility, and IPv4-6 support, along with an XML-based management system for integration with UTM (unified threat management) software. Other features include standard-compliant IPsec cryptography hardware, and "fast-path" modules said to support the OpenBSD Cryptographic Framework (OCF).

6WindGate EDS architecture

The 6WindGate stack comes in a symmetrical multiprocessing version called ADS, as well as a fast-path enabled SDS version that is said to offer a fast data path by dedicating some cores specifically to data plane processing via its real-time MCEE (Multi-Core Executive Environment) operating system. In this configuration, it assigns other cores to control plane tasks running Linux.

6WindGate's ADS, EDS, and SDS versions

6Wind also offers an EDS version that manages to accomplish fast-path performance without MCEE. Instead, it implements fast path as a Linux kernel module sitting between the Linux networking stack and the interface drivers (see diagram above).

QorIQ on the horizon

Announced in June, QorIQ is a pin- and software-compatible successor to Freescale's Linux-compatible PowerQUICC line of network processors. Based on one to eight e500 cores clocked from 400MHz to 1.5GHz, QorIQ is fabricated with 45nm process technology, leading to greater claimed power efficiency.

QorIQ P4 block diagram

The QorIQ P4080 is not expected to sample until mid 2009. However, Freescale collaborated with Virtutech in order to provide virtualized "Simics" simluation models for the chips. Using technology similar to processor virtualization, the Simics models mimic the QorIQ chips at the instruction-set level, enabling both hardware and software developers to get started in advance of hardware availability, the companies say.

6Wind provides its IP stack running on the Virtutech Simics Hybrid Virtual simulation platform, it says. Other companies touting early support for QorIQ, based on ports to Simics, include carrier-grade Linux distributors MontaVista and Wind River.

The Linux-compatible QorIQ SoCs range from the single-core P1010, clocked at 400MHz and consuming only four Watts, to the eight-core P4 clocked at 1.5Ghz and requiring 30 Watts, says Freescale. QorIQ uses the same e500 Power Architecture core used by PowerQUICC. Each e500 is said to offer 36-bit physical addressing, double-precision floating-point support, a 32KB L1 instruction cache, and a 32KB L1 data cache. Other touted features include one private backside cache per core, tri-level cache hierarchy, datapath acceleration architecture (DPAA), and a CoreNet coherency fabric on-chip, high-speed, interconnect between e500 cores, says the company.

Stated Eric Carmes, CEO of 6Wind, "Adding Freescale Semiconductor to our large list of technology partners essentially defines 6WIND as a reference solution for L2/L3 embedded networking software specifically designed for multicore."

The 6WindGate stack has been validated on x86, IXP4xx, IXP2xxx, and multi-core MIPS64 processors from Cavium and Raza, 6Wind Says. Additionally, last week, the company announced a reference design aimed at 4G wireless base stations and smart media gateway equipment. The design combines 6WindGate with VirtualLogix's VLX-NI (network infrastructure) virtualization technology, running on Texas Instruments's C6000 multi-core digital signal processors (DSPs).

Current Protocols Essential Laboratory Techniques (CPET)

Current Protocols Launches Current Protocols Essential Laboratory Techniques

Current Protocols Essential Laboratory Techniques (CPET) provides every researcher with the skills and understanding of fundamental laboratory procedures needed to ensure greater success at the bench. CPET takes the novice researcher from very basic skills like weight and volume measurement, through reagent preparation and the use of routine instrumentation, and finally into advanced topics such as real-time PCR and bioinformatics. In addition CPET:

Teaches new investigators how to formulate basic research questions and plan the experiments needed to answer them
Describes solution chemistry and preparation
Covers basic laboratory safety
Provides instruction on the care and use of common equipment such as pH meters, spectrophotometers, centrifuges, and microscopes
Teaches how to manage information from lab notebooks, images, and literature references, as well as manuscript preparation
Details modern bioinformatics techniques
Provides practical guides to outsourcing tasks such as sequencing and oligonucleotide synthesis

Modulation Techniques for Wireless

Introduction
The purpose of analog modulation is to impress an
information-bearing analog waveform onto a carrier for
transmission.
The purpose of digital modulation is to convert an
information-bearing discrete-time symbol sequence into a
continuous-time waveform (perhaps impressed on a carrier).
Key concerns | bandwidth efficiency and implementation
complexity.

These are aected by:

base band pulse shape
phase transition characteristics
envelope

uctuations (channel non-linearity?)

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How To Setup Wireless Connection (APPLY SAFETY SETTINGS FIRST)

"Don't ever connect a wireless router without doing the above safety settings. By default they are setup "loose" so that they get the fewest tech support calls. A central location of where you are most likely to use your wireless devices is desirable."

Ø Make sure your internet connection is working directly from your internet connection modem prior to connecting your router.

Ø Hook your router up as per instructions. Any wired computers will plug into the LAN connections and one cable will go to the modem.

Ø Log into the router using a wired computer with the ip address that is provided in the manual. Most are 192.168.0.1. Inputting this address in your browser's address window should get you there. Default login is "admin" , passwords vary, so check your book.

Ø Turn on WPA-PSK encryption so that the data from your computer is encrypted and not visible by your neighbor.

Ø Change the default router access password so that only you can logon.

Ø Turn off SSID broadcasting as this tells anyone passing by with a wireless device that you have a connection available; also name SSID what you want. You will use this name when connecting from your wireless device.

Ø Mac address filtering allows only your computer(s) to connect to your network so enable this as well. Finding your Mac address of your network device(s) is done by starting a command prompt window and typing "ipconfig/all" without the quotes. A typical Mac address is 00-06-5B-04-B4.

Ø Click enable Mac address filtering, then type your computer's Mac addresses in and save.

Ø WAN connection type will most likely be set to DHCP and should work fine at this setting for most applications.

Ø Fire up your computer with the wireless device installed....You did type the Mac address for this device, right?

Ø Start wireless setup wizard in Windows XP and it will walk you through connecting to your router. Use manual settings and check the box for wpa at the bottom. Remember that WPA-PSK key/password you made earlier? You will input it here. SSID name will also be entered here.

Ø If you have more than 1 computer and you would like to enable share files, click start>my network places then if you are using a Windows XP, on the side toolbar click "set up a home or small office network" and follow the steps with every computer.

Ø If all went smoothly you will now be able to safely connect wirelessly.

GPRS Core Network

The GPRS Core Network is the centralised part of the GPRS system and also provides support for WCDMA based 3G networks. The GPRS core network is an integrated part of the GSM core network.

The GPRS Core Network (GPRS stands for General Packet Radio Services) provides mobility management, session management and transport for Internet Protocol packet services in GSM and WCDMA networks. The core network also provides support for other additional functions such as billing and lawful interception.

GPRS Tunnelling Protocol (GTP)

GPRS Tunnelling Protocol is the defining IP protocol of the GPRS core network. It is the protocol which allows end users of a GSM or WCDMA network to move from place to place while continuing to connect to the internet as if from one location at the Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN). It does this by carrying the subscriber's data from the subscriber's current Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) to the GGSN which is handling the subscriber's session. The forms of GTP used by the GPRS core network
GTP-U: for transfer of user datain separated tunnels for each PDP context
GTP-C: for control reasons

GPRS Support Nodes (GSN)

A GSN is a network node which supports the use of GPRS in the GSM core network. All GSNs should have a Gn interface and support the GPRS Tunnelling Protocol.

There are two key variants of the GSN;

GGSN and the SGSN

Access Point

An access point is:
An IP network to which a mobile can be connected
A set of settings which are used for that connection
A particular option in a set of settings in a mobile phone

When a GPRS mobile phone sets up a PDP context, the access point is selected.

PDP Context

The PDP (Packet Data Protocol, e.g. IP, X.25, FrameRelay) context is a data structure present on both the SGSN and the GGSN which contains the subscriber's session information when the subscriber has an active session. When a mobile wants to use GPRS, it must first attach and then activate a PDP context. This allocates a PDP context data structure in the SGSN that the subscriber is currently visiting and the GGSN serving the subscribers access point. The data recorded includes:
Subscriber's IP address
Subscriber's IMSI
Subscriber's
Tunnel Endpoint ID (TEID) at the GGSN
Tunnel Endpoint ID (TEID) at the SGSN

The Tunnel Endpoint ID (TEID) is a number allocated by the GSN which identifies the tunnelled data related to a particular PDP context.

There are two kinds of PDP contexts:

Primary PDP Context : Has a unique IP address associated with it
Secondary PDP Context : Shares an IP address with another PDP context

A total of 11 PDP contexts (with any combination of Primary and Secondary) can co-exist.

Solutions provided by Core Networking

In the above diagram, Ethernet Protected Switched Rings (EPSR) and 10 GbE modules allow the SwitchBlade x908 advanced modular switch, with a number of x900 switches or iMAPs, to form a high speed protected ring with sub 50ms failover. This feature is perfect for high performance at the core of your Service Provider network. Comprehensive, low latency Quality of Service (QoS) features operating at wire-speed provide flow-based traffic management with full classification, prioritization, traffic shaping, and min/max bandwidth profiles. These QoS features are ideal when you want to ensure maximum availability of voice, video and data services, and simultaneously manage customer service level agreements.

Providing maximum Gigabit Ethernet port density in a 3RU chassis, the SwitchBlade x908 has a large multicast group capacity, which allows you to offer the maximum number of video services to your customers - increasing your per-port revenue. A high degree of flexibility future-proofs your investment against changes in network infrastructure, topology, and physical link requirements. Future XEM modules will provide greater Ethernet connectivity options, allowing your network to adapt in response to business needs.

Fully operational with one PSU, the second PSU provides redundancy and the ability to support dual feed where needed. These internal PSUs eliminate the need for an external Redundant Power Supply (RPS), affording you more valuable rack space. This built-in redundancy guarantees the continued delivery of essential services.

ActiveVideo system

ActiveVideo is an immersive, media-rich viewing experience that blends the choice, control and advertising models of the Internet with the convenience, image quality and instantaneous response of cable television.

The primary goal of ActiveVideo is to create a broadband video experience for television viewers while integrating as seamlessly as possible into the workflows used by programmers and the distribution technologies used by cable-TV networks. To achieve this, ActiveVideo uses MPEG Stitching technology to assemble cached Web content and streaming, broadcast or on-demand programming into a video stream customized for each viewer. MPEG Stitching dynamically composites a full-screen image from multiple MPEG encoded elements in response to remote control key presses as the viewer interacts with programming. ActiveVideo essentially shifts client centric application development to a flexible client-server model similar to Web browsers.

ActiveVideo's network-based approach overcomes legacy set-top box limitations to efficiently deliver new classes of personalized multimedia applications to an operator's entire subscriber base without requiring new network or CPE capital investment. This "develop once, deploy everywhere" strategy also allows programmers and advertisers to reach mass audiences quickly and economically, reusing much of what they already produce for the Web.

ActiveVideo uses standard interfaces so Web designers can work with existing media assets and familiar Web authoring tools to create interactive programming for television. No new tools or technologies must be mastered, and ActiveVideo programming can interact with decision support and fulfillment systems using deployed Internet protocols.

Programmers can update their designs or add functionality any time, within the terms of their business agreements with network operators. The ActiveVideo Distribution Network ensures that updates arrive promptly at the required networks, allowing programmers nearly instantaneous control of their content. This enables television programming innovation and change to move at the speed of the Internet.

How is ActiveVideo different from "traditional" interactive television?

Cable television operators currently have the most robust and high-quality networks for the delivery of video, providing a quality of service that over-the-top Internet video providers simply can't match. And, while cable systems are aggressively moving towards next generation interactive platforms, application developers continue to struggle with legacy limitations and long, complex development and integration cycles. The number of different set-top box models in the field requires programmers to author multiple versions of each application or to restrict features to the least capable client. Application designs are often constrained by the number of available tuners, insufficient processor and memory capacity, on-screen graphics display capabilities and the network infrastructure's ability to deliver and manage large amounts of media and graphics.

ActiveVideo operates differently than traditional interactive television applications. In fact, ActiveVideo applications are so different that it is more accurate to think of them as interactive programming. Instead of relying on set-top box hardware and software to execute and render an application, the user interface and navigation are embedded in the programming itself, allowing applications to be as rich and complex as the programmer can imagine.

ActiveVideo components

The ActiveVideo Platform supports the entire application lifecycle from content creation and distribution through deployment and real-time operation and monitoring. The platform consists of three logical subsystems.

ActiveVideo Editor
ActiveVideo Set-Top Box Client
ActiveVideo Distribution Network (AVDN)

Wi-Fi Networking News

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(DDBMS) DISTRIBUTED DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

It is the software system that permits the management of the distributed database and makes the distribution transparent to users. A Distributed Database Management System (DDBMS) consists of a single logical database that is split into a number of fragments. Each fragment is stored on one or more computers under the control of a separate DBMS, with the computers connected by a communications network. Each site is capable of independently processing user requests that require access to local data and is also capable of processing data stored on other computers in the network. Users access the distributed database via applications. Applications are classified as those that do not require data from other sites (local Applications) and those that do require data from other sites (global applications). We require a DDBMS to have at least one global application.

Database Management Systems has quickly become one of the leading texts for database courses, known for its practical emphasis and comprehensive coverage. The third edition features new material on database application development, with a focus on Internet applications. The hands-on approach introduces students to current standards, including JDBC, XML, and 3-tier application architectures. A new, flexible organization allows instructors to teach either an applications-oriented course or an introductory systems-oriented course. The revised “part” organization with (new) Overview chapters makes it easy to select the chapters you need; in-depth chapters within each part can be optional.

This very current new edition also features pedagogical improvements (e.g., chapter objectives, review questions), and updated and extended discussions of data mining, database tuning wizards, decision support, information retrieval, Internet security, object-oriented databases, transaction processing, and XML data management. Throughout, the coverage has been revised and expanded to reflect the new SQL:1999 standard, including extensions that support multimedia data, object-relational databases, OLAP, recursive queries, spatial data, and SQL-J. The flexible organization and up-to-date discussion of advanced topics also makes the book ideal for use in a two-course sequence

What Network Administrators Think of NETWORKS

Users and network administrators often have different views of their networks. Often, users that share printers and some servers form a workgroup, which usually means they are in the same geographic location and are on the same LAN. A community of interest has less of a connotation of being in a local area, and should be thought of as a set of arbitrarily located users who share a set of servers, and possibly also communicate via peer-to-peer technologies.

Network administrators see networks from both physical and logical perspectives. The physical perspective involves geographic locations, physical cabling, and the network elements (e.g., routers, bridges and application layer gateways that interconnect the physical media. Logical networks, called, in the TCP/IP architecture, subnets , map onto one or more physical media. For example, a common practice in a campus of buildings is to make a set of LAN cables in each building appear to be a common subnet, using virtual LAN (VLAN) technology.

Both users and administrators will be aware, to varying extents, of the trust and scope characteristics of a network. Again using TCP/IP architectural terminology, an intranet is a community of interest under private administration usually by an enterprise, and is only accessible by authorized users (e.g. employees) (RFC 2547). Intranets do not have to be connected to the Internet, but generally have a limited connection. An extranet is an extension of an intranet that allows secure communications to users outside of the intranet (e.g. business partners, customers)RFC 3547.

Informally, the Internet is the set of users, enterprises,and content providers that are interconnected by Internet Service Providers (ISP). From an engineering standpoint, the Internet is the set of subnets, and aggregates of subnets, which share the registered IP address space and exchange information about the reachability of those IP addresses using the Border Gateway Protocol. Typically, the human-readable names of servers are translated to IP addresses, transparently to users, via the directory function of the Domain Name System (DNS).

Over the Internet, there can be business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) communications. Especially when money or sensitive information is exchanged, the communications are apt to be secured by some form of communications security mechanism. Intranets and extranets can be securely superimposed onto the Internet, without any access by general Internet users, using secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology.

When used for gaming one computer will have to be the server while the others play through it.

Introduction to LAN, WAN and Home Networking

Residences typically employ one LAN and connect to the Internet WAN via an Internet Service Provider (ISP) using a broadband modem. The ISP provides a WAN IP address to the modem, and all of the computers on the home network use LAN (so-called private) IP addresses. All computers on the home LAN can communicate directly with each other but must go through a central gateway, typically a broadband router, to reach the ISP.

Types of Area Networks

While LAN and WAN are by far the most popular network types mentioned, you may also commonly see references to these others:

Wireless Local Area Network - a LAN based on WiFi wireless network technology

Metropolitan Area Network - a network spanning a physical area larger than a LAN but smaller than a WAN, such as a city. A MAN is typically owned an operated by a single entity such as a government body or large corporation.
Campus Area Network - a network spanning multiple LANs but smaller than a MAN, such as on a university or local business campus.
Storage Area Network - connects servers to data storage devices through a technology like Fibre Channel.

System Area Network - links high-performance computers with high-speed connections in a cluster configuration. Also known as Cluster Area Network.

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Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft was founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software, any time, any place, and on any device.

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