A Session Layer Concept for Overlay Networks

Abstract

Current day mobility solutions are characterized by a number of essential restrictions that prevent them from being successful in an overlay network environment. This paper proposes 4 properties that mobility solutions must have to address these restrictions: application cooperation, higher layer mobility awareness, general applicability and protocol heterogeneity. Subsequently, a mobility solution that realizes all these properties is described. The solution introduces a session layer in the protocol stack that consists of two subsystems: the connection abstraction system and the address management system. Other mobility solutions found in the literature, session layer and others, typically only realize a subset of the four properties.