Internet Scale Overlay Hosting

Network overlays have become a popular tool for implementing Internet applications. While content-delivery networks provide the most prominent example of the commercial application of overlays, systems researchers have developed a variety of experimental overlay applications, demonstrating that the overlay approach can be an effective method for deploying a broad range of innovative systems. Rising traffic volumes in overlay networks make the performance of overlay platforms an issue of growing importance. Currently, overlay platforms are constructed using general purpose servers, often organized into a cluster with a load-balancing switch acting as a front end. This project explores more integrated and scalable architectures suitable for supporting large-scale applications with thousands to many millions of end users. In addition, we are studying various network level issues relating to the control and management of large-scale overlay hosting services.

Internet Scale Overlay Applications

Network games work.