Interesting New Networking Protocol

[BrainFade]

A friend of mine mailed this to me - very interesting (if you're into computer tech). Check it out:

A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers

Status of this Memo

This memo describes an experimental method for the encapsulation of
IP datagrams in avian carriers. This specification is primarily
useful in Metropolitan Area Networks. This is an experimental, not
recommended standard. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Overview and Rational

Avian carriers can provide high delay, low throughput, and low
altitude service. The connection topology is limited to a single
point-to-point path for each carrier, used with standard carriers,
but many carriers can be used without significant interference with
each other, outside of early spring. This is because of the 3D ether
space available to the carriers, in contrast to the 1D ether used by
IEEE802.3. The carriers have an intrinsic collision avoidance
system, which increases availability. Unlike some network
technologies, such as packet radio, communication is not limited to
line-of-sight distance. Connection oriented service is available in
some cities, usually based upon a central hub topology.

Frame Format

The IP datagram is printed, on a small scroll of paper, in
hexadecimal, with each octet separated by whitestuff and blackstuff.
The scroll of paper is wrapped around one leg of the avian carrier.
A band of duct tape is used to secure the datagram's edges. The
bandwidth is limited to the leg length. The MTU is variable, and
paradoxically, generally increases with increased carrier age. A
typical MTU is 256 milligrams. Some datagram padding may be needed.

Upon receipt, the duct tape is removed and the paper copy of the
datagram is optically scanned into a electronically transmittable
form.

Discussion

Multiple types of service can be provided with a prioritized pecking
order. An additional property is built-in worm detection and
eradication. Because IP only guarantees best effort delivery, loss
of a carrier can be tolerated. With time, the carriers are self-

regenerating. While broadcasting is not specified, storms can cause
data loss. There is persistent delivery retry, until the carrier
drops. Audit trails are automatically generated, and can often be
found on logs and cable trays.

Security Considerations

Security is not generally a problem in normal operation, but special
measures must be taken (such as data encryption) when avian carriers
are used in a tactical environment.

Author's Address

David Waitzman
BBN Systems and Technologies Corporation
BBN Labs Division
10 Moulton Street
Cambridge, MA 02238

Phone: [phone]

EMail: [e-mail]

[JWK]

IEEE802.3.? connection topology?? duct tape?? ??

well it's over my head allready

[Mo]

err...
Network Working Group D. Waitzman
Request for Comments: 2549 IronBridge Networks
Updates: 1149 1 April 1999
Category: Experimental

IP over Avian Carriers with Quality of Service

Status of this Memo

This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.
Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

This memo amends RFC 1149, "A Standard for the Transmission of IP
Datagrams on Avian Carriers", with Quality of Service information.
This is an experimental, not recommended standard.

Overview and Rational

The following quality of service levels are available: Concorde,
First, Business, and Coach. Concorde class offers expedited data
delivery. One major benefit to using Avian Carriers is that this is
the only networking technology that earns frequent flyer miles, plus
the Concorde and First classes of service earn 50% bonus miles per
packet. Ostriches are an alternate carrier that have much greater
bulk transfer capability but provide slower delivery, and require the
use of bridges between domains.

The service level is indicated on a per-carrier basis by bar-code
markings on the wing. One implementation strategy is for a bar-code
reader to scan each carrier as it enters the router and then enqueue
it in the proper queue, gated to prevent exit until the proper time.
The carriers may sleep while enqueued.

For secure networks, carriers may have classes Prime or Choice.
Prime carriers are self-keying when using public key encryption.
Some distributors have been known to falsely classify Choice carriers
as Prime.

Packets MAY be marked for deletion using RED paint while enqueued.

Weighted fair queueing (WFQ) MAY be implemented using scales, as
shown:

__
_____/-----\ / o\
<____ _____\_/ >--
+-----+ \ / /______/
| 10g | /||/
+-----+ /____/|
| 10g | |
+-----+ .. X
===============================
^
|
=========

Carriers in the queue too long may leave log entries, as shown on the
scale.

The following is a plot of traffic shaping, from coop-erative host
sites.

Alt | Plot of Traffic Shaping showing carriers in flight
|
2k | ....................
| . .
| . .
1k | . .
| +---+ +---+
| | A | | B |
| +---+ +---+
|_____________________________________________

Avian carriers normally bypass bridges and tunnels but will seek out
worm hole tunnels. When carrying web traffic, the carriers may
digest the spiders, leaving behind a more compact representation.
The carriers may be confused by mirrors.

Round-robin queueing is not recommended. Robins make for well-tuned
networks but do not support the necessary auto-homing feature.

A BOF was held at the last IETF but only Avian Carriers were allowed
entry, so we don't know the results other than we're sure they think
MPLS is great. Our attempts at attaching labels to the carriers have
been met with resistance.

NATs are not recommended either -- as with many protocols, modifying
the brain-embedded IP addresses is difficult, plus Avian Carriers MAY
eat the NATs.

Encapsulation may be done with saran wrappers. Unintentional
encapsulation in hawks has been known to occur, with decapsulation
being messy and the packets mangled.

Loose source routes are a viable evolutionary alternative enhanced
standards-based MSWindows-compliant technology, but strict source
routes MUST NOT be used, as they are a choke-point.

The ITU has offered the IETF formal alignment with its corresponding
technology, Penguins, but that won't fly.

Multicasting is supported, but requires the implementation of a clone
device. Carriers may be lost if they are based on a tree as it is
being pruned. The carriers propagate via an inheritance tree. The
carriers have an average TTL of 15 years, so their use in expanding
ring searches is limited.

Additional quality of service discussion can be found in a Michelin's
guide.

MIB and Management issues

AvCarrier2 OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX SEQUENCE OF DNA
MAX-ACCESS can't-read
STATUS living
DESCRIPTION "Definition of an avian carrier"
::= { life eukaryotes mitochondrial_eukaryotes crown_eukaryotes
metazoa chordata craniata vertebrata gnathostomata
sarcopterygii terrestrial_vertebrates amniota diapsida
archosauromorpha archosauria dinosauria aves neornithes
columbiformes columbidae columba livia }

AvCarrier OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX SET OF Cells
MAX-ACCESS not-accessible
STATUS obsolete
DESCRIPTION "Definition of an avian carrier"
::= { life animalia chordata vertebrata aves
columbiformes columbidae columba livia }

PulseRate OBJECT-TYPE
SYNTAX Gauge(0..300)
MAX-ACCESS read-only

STATUS current
DESCRIPTION "Pulse rate of carrier, as measured in neck.
Frequent sampling is disruptive to operations."
::= { AvCarrier 1}

The carriers will not line up in lexigraphic order but will
naturally order in a large V shape. Bulk retrieval is possible
using the Powerful Get-Net operator.

Specification of Requirements

In this document, several words are used to signify the requirements
of the specification. These words are often capitalized.

MUST Usually.

MUST NOT Usually not.

SHOULD Only when Marketing insists.

MAY Only if it doesn't cost extra.

Security Considerations

There are privacy issues with stool pigeons.

Agoraphobic carriers are very insecure in operation.

Patent Considerations

There is ongoing litigation about which is the prior art: carrier or
egg.

References

Waitzman, D., "A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on
Avian Carriers", RFC 1149, 1 April 1990.

ACKnowledgments

Jim.Carlson.Ibnets.com > Jon.Saperia . ack 32 win 123 (DF)
Ross Callon, Scott Bradner, Charlie Lynn ...

Author's Address

David Waitzman
IronBridge Networks
55 Hayden Ave
Lexington, MA 02421
Phone: [phone]

EMail: [e-mail]

Full Copyright Statement

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.

This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
English.

The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

[Ruby2]

LOL So, we are talking carrier pidgeons?

[pabs]

ROFL@Mo

[Mo]

Believe it or not, in 2001 a group of Linux enthusiasts in Bergen, Norway, implemented RFC 1149 and successfully sent a number of ACTP commands and p-mails... Here's the news, as reported in cnet a couple of years ago.

Pigeon-powered Internet takes flight

By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
May 4, 2001, 1:15 PM PT

One of the Internet's most obscure technologies came to life last weekend: transmitting network information by carrier pigeon.
In 1990, David Waitzman wrote RFC 1149, a tongue-in-cheek standard for using pigeons to transfer information using the Internet Protocol (IP). On Saturday, a group of Linux enthusiasts in Bergen, Norway, succeeded in exchanging some data using the Carrier Pigeon Internet Protocol (CPIP).

The group transmitted a "ping" command, among the most basic operations of the Internet, in which one computer sends a signal to another, which in turn signals that it is attached to the network. In the experiment, packets of network data were printed on paper then attached to pigeons' legs. Upon their arrival at the destination, the data was transferred to the computer using optical character recognition software.

The Bergen Linux Users Group had some assistance from the Vesta Brevdueforening carrier pigeon club and Alan Cox, a programmer at Linux leader Red Hat and top deputy of Linux founder Linus Torvalds.

The pigeon protocol didn't mean the fastest of networks, though. Taking an hour and 42 minutes to transfer a 64-byte packet of information makes the pigeon network about 5 trillion times slower than today's cutting-edge 40 gigabit-per-second optical fiber networks.

With a bit more luck than the Bergen group experienced, a basic Web page probably could be loaded in a couple of hours, participant Vegard Engen said in an e-mail interview.

Why bother with such a pokey protocol? "Because it could be done, and because no one had done it before," Engen said.

Indeed, Waitzman said the only other attempt he knew of faltered for lack of avian carriers.

"In February 1996, I got an e-mail from Sprint Communications South Africa asking if anyone has implemented it, and that they are thinking of doing it as a publicity stunt," Waitzman said in an e-mail interview. "I replied 'No, and good luck,' and they responded that they were having trouble finding a carrier pigeon owner. I never heard anything more."

Network speeds
Pigeon: 0.08bps
Dial-up modem: 56kbps
ISDN: 128kbps
DSL: 384kbps to 1mbps
T1 line: 1.5mbps
Ethernet: 10mbps to 100mbps
T3 line: 45mbps
OC12 line: 622mbps
Gigabit Ethernet: 1gbps
OC48: 2.5gbps
OC192: 10gbps
OC768: 40gbps
Source: CNET research

Carrier pigeons, with their navigational abilities, have been used for communication in numerous forms. A black check cock carrier pigeon named Cher Ami was awarded the French Croix de Guerre medal for delivering 12 messages in World War I. His valorous duty included a message that helped the U.S. Army locate its "Lost Battalion," a message delivered despite the bird's being shot by enemy fire, according to the Smithsonian Institution.

There were some hitches with the Internet experiment as well. "The main reason for the long ping times was the neighbors' pigeons," Engen said. "They were out flying in the valley. When our pigeons were released, they did not want to go home. They would rather fly with the other pigeons."

And the flocking tendency caused another problem: The arrival en masse of a bunch of pigeons that had been released at 7.5-minute intervals caused a lot of confusion among the pigeon handlers, who left some cages open. As a result, some pigeons returned back to the starting point before they could be fitted with a datagram. But the packet loss wasn't bad enough to sink the experiment, Engen said.

And, as usual among Linux groupies, Microsoft took some of the heat. One pigeon bonked into a nearby window, spurring Cox to quip, "Oh, no! Windows causing problems again," Engen said.

Waitzman's avian carrier protocol is one of a number of "April Fool's Day" standards at the Internet Engineering Task Force. Waitzman puts the total count of joke standards at 29, including a sequel he wrote in 1999, RFC 2549, for ensuring quality of service on carrier pigeon networks.

Waitzman, an employee of Internet pioneer BBN Technologies, seasons his standards descriptions with networking jargon adapted to feathered formats.

For example, "the carriers have an intrinsic collision avoidance system," a problem that afflicts the transfer of data on crowded networks. And regarding patent considerations, "There is ongoing litigation about which is the prior art: carrier or egg."

The pigeon experiment may have been just a lark, but it actually served a serious function in setting an example of how helpful good documentation can be.

"If all protocol tests included such good documentation, interoperability in the Internet would be even better," Waitzman said.

[BrainFade]

And, as usual among Linux groupies, Microsoft took some of the heat. One pigeon bonked into a nearby window, spurring Cox to quip, "Oh, no! Windows causing problems again," Engen said.

Linux users - hehe