Cisco Systems plans to add code to its wireless LAN controllers to make Apple's Bonjour-based zero-configuration networking technologies like AirPlay and AirPrint behave better on enterprise networks.
The code will turn the controller into a Bonjour gateway and couple it with policy-based user privileges. For users, this will mean that Apple clients will be able to find and access network-attached AirPrint printers, Apple TVs, and the like on different subnets, so everything will just work as it does on their own home networks.
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BACKGROUND: IT groups petition Apple to fix Bonjour protocol
A second expected result will be a big decrease in the amount of Bonjour-based discovery traffic that today is putting a heavy load on enterprise networks teeming with Apple MacBook laptops, iPhones, iPads, and more.
Bonjour, originally called Rendezvous when introduced in the early 2000s, is Apple's latest implementation of zero configuration networking, or Zeroconf, which is a group of open Layer 2 protocols to automatically and quickly set up an IP network, without having to set up services such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, DNS, and DNS Service Directory. (More background is online at a page maintained by Stuart Cheshire, Zeroconf's pioneer, who was later hired by Apple.)
In simple home Wi-Fi networks, that's just what happens: Apple clients broadcast for services, the services identify themselves, and client and service simply connect, paving the way for specific Apple protocols like AirPrint for printers and AirPlay for sharing multimedia among Apple clients via an intervening Apple TV box.
But the strengths of Bonjour become problematic in more complex networks, which can have hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of iPhones and iPads advertising for services but unable to connect if theyre on separate subnets. And the discovery traffic can, according to some colleges and universities, sometimes hit 90 percent of the network load. The problems are pressing enough that last week a group of higher education IT managers finalized a petition to Apple, asking for a range of Bonjour and related changes to make the protocols better citizens on enterprise networks.
Cisco is the third WLAN vendor to address these issues with a Bonjour gateway. Aerohive this week announced the release of HiveOS 5.1 and HiveManager 5.1, which now include a Bonjour gateway. Rival Aruba Networks has announced a similar capability and expects to release it by 2013.
On a Cisco WLAN, Apple clients will advertise for Bonjour services, just as they do now, says Chris Spain, vice president of product marketing for Ciscos wireless business unit. The Cisco access point then will tunnel those requests back to the WLAN controller and match them with an inventory of available AirPrint printers, Apple TVs, iTunes libraries, and the like on any subnet in the enterprise network. The controller identifies the user, matches the authenticated user with his or her access privileges, and grants access to the requested Bonjour service or not, based on group policies. For example, faculty but not students might have access to Apple TVs in specific rooms or to certain AirPrint printers.
Spain says Cisco is currently testing the gateway to find out how and to what degree it can reduce Bonjour discovery traffic. In effect, with the intervening controller, every Bonjour request-response appears to the client device as a local, single-network transaction. Because the controller acts as a proxy for other Bonjour services on other subnets, it can minimize broadcasts, at least in theory.
Cisco also plans to extend one of its existing technologies, called Network Based Application Recognition, to its wireless LAN firmware. For the first time, Cisco WLAN controllers will be able to dissect packets and compare them to a database of about 1,500 application signatures to identify a specific application -- such as a video conference versus a Netflix video, or a Skype voice call -- to be prioritized, blocked, or given bandwidth limits, for example.
And Cisco plans to make its application visibility and control (AVC) technology run over wireless LANs. This software, which identifies applications based on deep packet inspection compared to a catalog of application signatures, has been around for years as part of Ciscos popular ISR routers and other products, especially to optimize relatively slower, shared resources like WAN links. This code is now being embedded on the Cisco WLAN controllers and given yet another Cisco acronym: NBAR, for Network Based Application Recognition.
By being able to see specific applications on the Wi-Fi links, the controller can then apply policies to manage and optimize them. Voice or video applications, which are sensitive to jitter and latency, might be given priority treatment by the WLAN, for example. Or some applications, such as bandwidth-hungry Netflix streaming video, might be blocked; other applications might be given a specific bandwidth allocation.
Previously, Cisco's WLAN firmware had some limited ability to identify applications. But the inclusion of AVC will now make this broader, deeper, and more specific, and allow IT to associate more granular controls on specific applications, according to Spain.
John Cox covers wireless networking and mobile computing for Network World. Twitter: http://twitter.com/johnwcoxnww. Email: john_cox@nww.com. Blog RSS feed: http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/2989/feed.
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This story, "Joining competitors, Cisco to reduce Apple Bonjour burden on networks" was originally published by Network World.