VFER

VFER is a tool for high-performance data transfer developed at Internet².

Main goals for VFER include

• good out-of-the-box performance
• user-space implementation for easy installation and portability
• tolerance to minor non-congestive packet loss
• TCP-friendliness

It is layered on UDP and implements its own delay-based rate control algorithm in user-space. VFER also implements the new PLPMTUD mechanism. Security is based on SSH.

VFER evolved from discussions in the Internet² Bulk transport WG, which was started in 2004. The implementation was mostly done by students sponsored through Google's "Summer of Code" program. As of now (January 2007), it is in "alpha test". Source code is available using CVS under an (Internet2-specific) Open Source license.

References

• VFER Web site - http://vfer.internet2.edu/
• Design Space for a Bulk Transport Tool, S. Shalunov, L. Dunn, Yunhong Gu, S. Low, I. Rhee, S. Senger, B. Wydrowski, Lisong Xu, Internet2 Bulk Transport Working Group Report, May 2005 - http://shlang.com/transport/transport-design-space.pdf

-- SimonLeinen - 15 Jan 2007