Transcript What did we learn at this workshop? Dan Nessett, moderator

What did we learn at this workshop?
Dan Nessett, moderator
Usenix Special Workshop on Intelligence
At the Network Edge
San Francisco, CA
March 20, 2000
3/21/00
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What did we learn at this workshop?
• What is the “edge” ?
- A host?
- An organizational or spatial boundary?
- A protocol layer boundary (e.g., above layer 3)?
• Edge intelligence can be used for :
- sub-multiplexing address/name spaces.
- scalable QoS provisioning.
- distribution of content processing and caching.
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What did we learn at this workshop?
• Why put intelligence at the edge?
- improves scalability.
- raises difficult issue - do you make functionality transparent
(translucent?) or visible?
- when edge = end system, can shift responsibility for some
services [but will this really work?].
- allows offload of functionality from less capable devices to
“gateway” or “surrogate” with more capability.
- but, why use IP for this? Can’t less capable devices be
considered “peripherals”?
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What did we learn at this workshop?
• Intelligence at the edge complicates (simplifies) management
- may make fault diagnoses/correction harder.
- may make management harder (heterogeneity).
- however, can improve fault tolerance.
- also, may make management more scalable (e.g., firewalls).
• How does end-to-end security affect edge intelligence?
- E2E encryption can hide data used for decision making.
- E2E encryption can prevent rewriting data in packets.
- Will affect web proxies and network device packet
classification significantly.
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What did we learn at this workshop?
• Edge intelligence can break coherent architecture.
- May introduce more problems than it solves.
- Need an intelligent edge device “architecture” to help
minimize problems introduced into overall system.
• Need work on middle box discovery; auto-configuration.
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