NFD version 0.1.0

Release date: May 7, 2014

This is an incomplete list of features that are implemented in NFD version 0.1.0.

  • Packet Format

    • NDN-TLV
    • LocalControlHeader, to allow apps to set outgoing face and learn incoming face.

  • Faces

    • Unix stream socket

    • UDP unicast

    • UDP multicast

    • TCP

    • Ethernet, currently without fragmentation.

      Note

      Ethernet support will not work properly on Linux kernels with TPACKET_V3 flexible buffer implementation (>= 3.2.0) and libpcap >= 1.5.0 (e.g., Ubuntu Linux 14.04). Refer to Issue 1551 for more detail and implementation progress.

  • Management

    • Use of signed Interests as commands, with authentication and authorization.
    • Face management
    • FIB management
    • Per-namespace strategy selection
    • NFD status publishing
    • Notification to authorized apps of internal events, including Face creation and destruction.

  • Tables and forwarding pipelines support most Interest/Data processing, including selectors.

  • RIB Management that runs as a separate process, nrd. It supports basic prefix registration by applications, but no flags yet.

  • Strategies

    • broadcast
    • best-route
    • ncc: based on ccnx 0.7 for experimentation
    • client-control: authorized application can directly control Interest forwarding

  • Name-based scoping

    • /localhost: communication only within localhost using “local” Faces (UnixStreamFace, LocalTcpFace). NFD will strictly enforce this scope for Interests and Data packets
    • /localhop: one-hop communication (e.g., if at least one incoming or outgoing Face in PIT entry is non-local, the Interest cannot be forwarded to any non-local Face)

  • Support configuration file, which is in the Boost INFO format.

  • Applications

    • Tools to discover hubs on NDN testbed.
    • peek/poke and traffic generators for testing and debugging.
    • nfdc, a command-line tool to configure NFD.
    • nfd-status, a command-line tool to query NFD status.
    • nfd-status-http-server, which reads the NFD status and publishes over HTTP.

Planned Functions and Features for Next Releases

  • NACK
    A packet sent back by a producer or a router to signal the unavailability of a requested Data packet. The protocol specification for NACK is in progress.
  • New strategies
    Additional strategies, including self-learning that populates the FIB by observing Interest and Data exchange.
  • Hop-by-hop Interest limit mechanism
    For congestion control
  • Face enhancements
    Add faces for new underlying protocols such as WiFi direct. Introduce the concept of “permanent faces” that can survive socket errors. Design a new hop-by-hop header that supports fragmentation, reliability improvement, etc.
  • Tables
    Experiment and evaluate different data structures and algorithms.
  • RIB management
    Move to more scalable data structures and support all flags in prefix registrations.
  • Tunnel management
    For hub nodes to authenticate incoming tunnel requests and maintain the tunnels.
  • Extensible name-based scoping
    Configurable organization-based scoping