IPlug and dSocket: A new network API for decoupling identifier and locator

Abstract

In current Internet, network API acts as a bridge between application and network and the importance of its role is growing. However, it has inherent limitation of tight-coupling which makes almost indivisible all the network environments, such as transport controls and network-specific addresses. This coupling not only makes it difficult to change one without changing another, but also prevents both sides from evolving. This work presents a novel network API, iPlug and dSocket, which not only decouples identifier and locator, but splits application-specific functions from protocol-specific. Our design enables (1) injection of information-centered applications requirements, (2) encapsulated control of underlying network mechanisms, and (3) dynamic coupling between applications and network. The proposed API is implemented as a shared library that can be easily deployed. Our evaluations on mobility environment showed that applications have the benefits of clear abstraction and easy programmability from decoupled iPlug and dSocket API.