So ware De ned Networks, which provide a programmable, logically centralized abstraction of network control, o er an escape from the current state of enterprise and datacenter network con guration, plagued by brittle, static solutions involving manual setting of myriad devices. But if SDNs provide an operating system for the network, we are missing the analog to system callsan API for end-users and their applications to take part in network con guration. In response, we propose participatory networking, a new paradigm for network con guration in which users submit requests or hints for current and future network properties such as quality of service, access control, and path selection. We describe the initial design and implementation of a participatory networking system, PANE, and its solutions to the challenges of resource arbitration and privilege delegation.

We present a time-series analysis of Cogent's inter-continental network. The analysis is based on descriptions of Cogent's routers and their interfaces, collected each week for more than one year. These descriptions are collected from public reverse DNS records, which we cross-validate using iffinder, a full Internet scan, and limited ground truth data provided by Cogent. For example, our dataset, which we make available to the research community, shows that while the number of Cogent routers grew by approximately 11.3 each week, the average number of interfaces per router, and the effective diameter of the inferred network remained stable over the same period. Our collected dataset includes information about interface types, port identifications, router locations, peer and customer attachments, and more.