This document discusses how the RINA framework supports network slicing through connectivity and performance isolation. It allows sharing of network resources while managing risks like security, costs, and ensuring high resource utilization. RINA isolates connectivity and performance at all layers through management of associations and quality of service. It also supports the flow of information needed to construct and manage network slices. RINA offers simplification through separation of concerns and code reuse, lowering total cost of ownership. It can be incrementally deployed and provides a coherent architecture for software-defined networking and network functions virtualization.

1. ©PredictableNetworkSolutionsLtd2016
Slicing / SDN / Virtualisation and RINA
Slicing / SDN / Virtualisation
and RINA
Neil Davies| Chief Scientist | Predictable Network Solutions
SDN World Congress 2016, The Hague, October 2016

2. ©PredictableNetworkSolutionsLtd2016
Slicing / SDN / Virtualisation and RINA
2Networks create….

3. ©PredictableNetworkSolutionsLtd2016
Slicing / SDN / Virtualisation and RINA
3
Sharing yet isolation
• Connectivity Isolation
• both closed user groups and generic
connectivity
• rich models yet low complexity
• bespoke and flexible
• uniformity and reproducibility
• Performance Isolation
• assured QoE/UX
• on application relevant timescales
• on demand
• at best price
• at lowest non-delivery risk
Sharing yet managed risks
• Security
• Assurance of closed user groups
• Meet territorial / regulatory constraints
• Non-discretionary access control
• multi-level
• Direct control over issues of privacy and
identity
• given potential for ruin risk
• Costs
• want to resell / wholesale
• large / anchor customers
• capitalise costs
• infrastructure joint-ownership
• High resource utilisation
Slicing unpacked ….
Key:
• Most relevant to customer/consumer
• Most relevant to supplier/service producer
• Equally relevant to both parties

4. ©PredictableNetworkSolutionsLtd2016
Slicing / SDN / Virtualisation and RINA
4Isolation of connectivity in RINA …
• Ability to manage association(s)
• At all layers
• Freedom from “forced association”
• A critical weakness of current IP-centric approaches
• Both establish the rules of what is permissible AND have visibility of
what actually has happened
• Not just “policy” but assured/auditable policies
• Consistent and integrated approach that maintains the separation of
concerns between
• authentication and identity
• authorisation and access control
for both network transport and the
application computation at all layers
in a single coherent framework

5. ©PredictableNetworkSolutionsLtd2016
Slicing / SDN / Virtualisation and RINA
5
• Performance ≢ bandwidth
• It is quality in quantity over time
• Apps need consistent end-to-end data
transport to deliver consistent UX
• bounded delay and loss
• effective SLA / KPI metrics
• bounded differently for different apps
• requires management of emergent stat.
mux. effects
• Need to slice “quality”
• essential for product differentiation
• supports different cost points for different
apps
• RINA framework supports the
appropriate signalling
Isolation of performance ….

6. ©PredictableNetworkSolutionsLtd2016
Slicing / SDN / Virtualisation and RINA
6Information to construct and manage slicing
RINA framework supports
the flow of descriptions of
“demand” (QoS Cubes)
Has notion of aggregation
of demand between DIFs
Sufficient information to
make appropriate
decisions (RMT function)
flow of “demand description”

7. ©PredictableNetworkSolutionsLtd2016
Slicing / SDN / Virtualisation and RINA
7Total cost of ownership - 1
• RINA offers simplification by appropriate separation of concerns
• more layers, each simple (c.f. today’s trend: one layer very complicated)
• In RINA every layer has the same set of functions, every layer has the same
set of code
• therefore code re-use is the norm
• RINA’s framework makes code simple, easy to understand and
maintain
• so far there are 3 implementations (on a host) each around 25K SLOC;
• adding in management system brings it to a total around 100K SLOC

8. ©PredictableNetworkSolutionsLtd2016
Slicing / SDN / Virtualisation and RINA
8Total cost of ownership – 2
• Polices are small and focussed
• and re-usable (in other layers) because they target a standard API
• deploying (and maintaining) new products/services going to be quick/low cost
• Management mechanisms are uniform across all layers
• Management can be centralised “orchestration” and/or
• distributed (in policies) “choreography”
• RINA can be incrementally deployed
• Example: wrapping existing functions to make them “NFV” can be achieved
with < 300 (sic) SLOC in RINA

9. ©PredictableNetworkSolutionsLtd2016
Slicing / SDN / Virtualisation and RINA
9SDN, NFV & RINA
• RINA provides a coherent architecture for softwarization of
networking
• which can be incrementally applied
• SDN provides rich set of mechanisms exposing the network to
software control
• RINA can exploit existing control models (e.g. Carrier Ethernet)
• Can help to avoid signalling storms
• A key goal of NFV is to leverage existing function assets
• RINA provides low cost, composable ways of achieving this
• Without modifying existing code