THE SWITCHWARE ACTIVE NETWORK ARCHITECTURE

Active networks must balance the flexibility of a programmable network infrastructure against the safety and security requirements inherent in sharing that infrastructure. Furthermore, this balance must be achi eved while maintaining the usability of the network. The SwitchWare ac tive network architecture is a novel approach to achieving this balanc e using three layers: active packets, which contain mobile programs th at replace traditional packets; active extensions, which provide servi ces on the network elements and con be dynamically loaded; and a secur e active router infrastructure, which forms a high-integrity base on w hich the security of the other layers depends. In addition to integrit y checking and cryptography-based authentication, security in our arch itecture depends heavily on verification techniques from programming l anguages, such as strong type checking.