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The specification and enforcement of network-wide policies in a single administrative domain is common in today's networks and considered as already resolved. However, this is not the case for multi-administrative domains, e.g. among different enterprises. In such situation, new problems arise that challenge classical solutions such as PKIs, which suffer from scalability and granularity concerns. In this paper, we present an extension to Group-Based Policy -a widely used network policy language-for the aforementioned scenario. To do so, we take advantage of a permissioned blockchain implementation (Hyperledger Fabric) to distribute access control policies in a secure and auditable manner, preserving at the same time the independence of each organization. Network administrators specify polices that are rendered into blockchain transactions. A LISP control plane (RFC 6830) allows routers performing the access control to query the blockchain for authorizations. We have implemented an end-to-end experimental prototype and evaluated it in terms of scalability and network latency.

We present IPchain, a blockchain to store the allocations and delegations of IP addresses, with the aim of easing the deployment of secure interdomain routing systems. Interdomain routing security is of vital importance to the Internet since it prevents unwanted traffic redirections. IPchain makes use of blockchains' properties to provide flexible trust models and simplified management when compared to existing systems. In this paper we argue that Proof of Stake is a suitable consensus algorithm for IPchain due to the unique incentive structure of this use-case. We have implemented and evaluated IPchain's performance and scalability storing around 150k IP prefixes in a 1GB chain.

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the advantages of using the UCLP software for network operators, advanced and regular end users in the research networking community. Design/methodology/approach -This paper provides an example of the deployment of UCLP in the GÉ ANT2/National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) scenario, and compares how network operators, advanced users and regular end users would do their work, with and without UCLP. Findings -The paper provides high-level technical information about UCLP as well as depicting the drivers for its use in the European research networking community. Research limitations/implications -This paper does not explain the details of the deployment of the software in the GÉ ANT2/National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) scenario, it just explains the benefits that the deployment of the software would provide. If the deployment was to be done today, some improvements to UCLP should be done, as well as support for more equipment vendors should be added. Practical implications -UCLP could provide more flexibility to the e-science community if it was deployed over the European research networking infrastructure, because it would isolate network users from each other while providing them an unprecedented degree of control over the network. Originality/value -Nowadays, several control/management solutions for networks exist, but none that is capable of partitioning a physical network into slices and handoff its management to the users, like UCLP does. This is the first UCLP paper that studies a hypothetical deployment of UCLP in the European research networking scenario, and evaluates the drivers and implications of such a deployment.