Dynamic host routing for production use of developmental networks

Many high-speed networks are in a development stage, compared to established technologies like Ethernet. Use of these networks for production service provides substantial benefits to the developers, e.g., for large-scale testing. However, most users are not tolerant of pre-production network outages, even in exchange for the higher bandwidth these networks afford. This paper describes ISI´s experience in deploying such a network, Myricom´s Myrinet, for production service. A configuration is described that encourages participation in advanced deployment, and provides dynamic backup to a conventional, production-quality network. Each machine individually and transparently reverts to a stable backup network in the event that the prototype network fails. The system is composed of existing tools, and requires no operating system modifications. Alternate configurations are discussed, and recommendations presented to support such deployment more easily in the future