# ARCFIRE: Experimentation with the Recursive InterNetwork Architecture
###### Abstract  
European funded research into the Recursive Inter-Network Architecture (RINA) started with IRAIT, which developed an initial prototype implementation for OS/Linux. IRAIT was quickly succeeded by the PRISTINE project, which developed different policies, each tailored to specific use cases. Both projects were development-driven, where most experimentation was limited to unit testing and smaller scale integration testing. In order to assess the viability of RINA as an alternative to current network technologies, larger scale experimental deployments are needed. The opportunity arose for a project that shifted focus from development towards experimentation, leveraging Europe's investment in Future Internet Research and Experimentation (FIRE+) infrastructures. The ARCFIRE project took this next step, developing a user-friendly framework for automating RINA experiments. This paper reports and discusses the implications of the experimental results achieved by the ARCFIRE project, using open source RINA implementations deployed on FIRE+ Testbeds. Experiments analyze the properties of RINA relevant to fast network recovery, network renumbering, Quality of Service, distributed mobility management, and network management. Results highlight RINA properties that can greatly simplify the deployment and management of real-world networks; hence, the next steps should be focused on addressing very specific use cases with complete network RINA-based networking solutions that can be transferred to the market. R 2020 9 599 30005  
the operations that the DIF provides to (i) allocate resources between applications, called \"flows\"; (ii) read and write data from these flows; (iii) de-allocate the flows and free the resources associated to them. In RINA, invariant parts (mechanisms) and variant parts (policies) are separated, making it possible to customize the behavior of a DIF with sets of policies tailored to a particular environment. RINA recognizes that no single set of policies can be effective over the entire range of requirements a network may encounter. DIFs can be stacked as many times as necessary and each one can be configured to support a given range of bandwidth and Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. Three research initiatives have been previously funded by the European Commission into researching RINA: FP7 IRATI (Investigating RINA as an Alternative to TCP/IP) [2] developed the first RINA implementation over ethernet for the Linux Operating System. FP7 PRISTINE (Programmability in RINA for European supremacy on virtualized networks) [3] built on IRATI's efforts to further improve the prototype and start applying RINA to specific areas such as congestion control, resource allocation, routing, security and network management. The GN3+ open call winner IRINA (Investigating RINA as the next generation GEANT and NREN architecture) [4] researched the potential for RINA in the framework of GEANT and National Research and Education Networks (NRENs). Following these three projects, there was a need for a more experiment-driven project that leverages the prototypes and the European investment in Future Internet research infrastructures. The main objectives of the H2020 ARCFIRE (Large-scale RINA benchmark on FIRE) project were to:  
1. Compare the design of converged operator networks using RINA to state-of-the-art operator network designs. 2. Produce a robust RINA software suite; mature enough for large-scale lab experiments. 3. Provide relevant experimental evidence of the RINA benefits for network operators, application developers, and end-users. 4. Raise the number of organizations involved in RINA research, development, and innovation activities. 5. Enhance FIRE+ as a platform for large-scale experimentation with RINA. FIRE+ (Future Internet Research and Experimentation) is a European experimental infrastructure for Future Internet research.