An identifier-locator approach to host multihoming

Abstract

Host multihoming allows individual hosts to be multiply connected to the network, e.g. by concurrent use of two network prefixes, each network prefix tied to a separate network interface. Such multihoming capability improves the host's ability to implement such features as load-balancing, fail-over and multi-path transport protocols. However, IP does not directly support host multihoming today. The em Identifier / Locator split solution space is seen as one way for reducing such negative impact. We present an evaluation of host- multihoming as a prototype implementation of the em Identifier Locator Network Protocol (ILNP) on FreeBSD, as a superset of IPv6 -- called ILNPv6. We demonstrate load-balancing using ILNPv6 multihoming and compare performance with IPv6 forwarding at the end host.