DN42 Topic Description

Abstract

The Internet has grown to tens of thousands, almost a hundred thousand interconnected networks which can be reached from anywhere in the world. Despite the varying networking software and hardware vendors and the many different mediums through which data is sent, somehow an Internet Service Provider in Japan can access a datacenter in Australia, managed by a team in the US, and how? The complicated world of internetworking and routing technologies is difficult to break into and understand, but my capstone project is to join and explore a growing effort to lower the cost of entry and erode the barriers for working hands-on with those technologies.

Problem/Purpose

My project is somewhat self-serving, as my goal is to expand my own knowledge about an area of technology I’m passionate about. Technologies used on the internet are more complex than what is used on a home network and even some enterprise networks, and so my objective is to break down the topic into a year-long research project, giving me enough time to work through the complexity and gain the required theoretical knowledge and a working proficiency with the tools from hands-on experience.

The purpose and overall strategy of my capstone project is to learn about and participate in the DN42 network, which is a global network overlaid on top of the internet to help people like me learn how internetworking technologies like the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) work. My goal is to complete this project with a well-rounded knowledge of the aforementioned technologies, and to become an active and continuously learning participant in the network, hosting my own infrastructure for others to engage with, and to help them learn as well.