Thoughts on Providing Packet Obituaries

Authors: Katernia Argyraki, Petros Maniatis, David Cheriton, Scott Shenker
Venue: Hotnet '04

Summary:
The paper draws a strawman design of how to provide some form of accountability on which AS on a path dropped a packet. This is done by adding Accountability Boxes (A-boxes) on links at the entry and exit points of an AS. The A-boxes maintain calculate digests of packets that pass through and cascade reports from the last AS to see a packet back to the sender along the reverse AS-level path. The mechanism allows an end-host to know which AS has dropped a packet. If ASes forge reports, the sender can know at which link a report discrepancy occurred and can tell that one of two ASes has lied. The paper also quickly studies the feasibility of the design. I did not read the paper well enough to comment on how pros and cons. I like the function that it provides. I'm more worried about its security and whether it is practical. I am not sure that necessitating extra hardware is the right approach. But perhaps this is OK since carriers put all sorts of specialized hardware in the networks anyway.