Dr. Multicast: Rx for Data Center Communication Scalability

Ymir Vigfusson, Hussam Abu-Libdeh, Mahesh Balakrishnan, Ken Birman, Robert Burgess, Gregory Chockler, Haoyuan Li, Yoav Tock

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

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Abstract

IP Multicast (IPMC) in data centers becomes disruptive when the technology is used by a large number of groups, a capability desired by event notification systems. We trace the problem to root causes, and introduce Dr. Multicast (MCMD), a system that eliminates the issue by mapping IPMC operations to a combination of point-to-point unicast and traditional IPMC transmissions guaranteed to be safe. MCMD optimizes the use of IPMC addresses within a data center by merging similar multicast groups in a principled fashion, while simultaneously respecting hardware limits expressed through administrator-controlled policies. The system is fully transparent, making it backward-compatible with commodity hardware and software found in modern data centers. Experimental evaluation shows that MCMD allows a large number of IPMC groups to be used without disruption, restoring a powerful group communication primitive to its traditional role.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationEuroSys '10 Proceedings of the 5th European conference on Computer systems
Place of PublicationParis, France
PublisherACM
Pages349-362
Number of pages14
ISBN (Print)978-1-60558-577-2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2010
Event5th European conference on Computer systems (EuroSys '10) - Paris, France
Duration: 13 Apr 201016 Apr 2010

Conference

Conference5th European conference on Computer systems (EuroSys '10)
Country/TerritoryFrance
CityParis
Period13/04/1016/04/10

Keywords

  • IP Multicast
  • Multicast
  • Data Centers

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