Signposts

Signposts Taking back the dark edges of the internet

Open Hardware, Software, Internet & JobsMonday 11 March

Heidi [email protected]

The good old days ...

53.123.123.2

53.137.123.29

45.204.13.2

79.183.123.82 103.193.123.234

53.128.123.27

53.123.193.87

Today's reality...

NAT Box

NAT Box

NAT Box

NAT Box

NAT Box

Firewall

Firewall

Firewall

The Problem

Device-device connectivity is pretty broken right now due to middleboxes at the edges of the internet

my iPhone

my machine here at the lab

Existing Solutions

Although you can fix this with a range of tools, it's very fiddly and complex to do so or the solutions are platform specific

Technical - Dynamic DNS- Port Forwarding- uPnP- STUN- VPN- Iodine- NAT Punching- Rendezvous- HTTP/SMTP proxy

Centralised & 3rd Party- Skype & Google talk- Dropbox, Google Drive, Ubuntu One- iCloud- Remote Desktop Software e.g. LogMeIn- Email- Facebook, Twitter

... and the Signpost SolutionSignposts turn these technical solutions into tactics, it automates and manages the range of tactics to bring back this end-to-end dream

It's a framework to manage the maze of tactics so it's highly extensible

Signposts point devices in the right direction to find each other

Signposts' View of the WorldHeidi's Signpost Server

Internet

Now my devices all have their own domain names which they can use to refer to each other

iphone.heidi.signpost.io

dark edge of internet

desktop.heidi.signpost.ioworkmachine.heidi.signpost.io



Signposts' View of the WorldHeidi's Signpost Server

Internet

iphone.heidi.signpost.io

laptop.heidi.signpost.io



desktop.heidi.signpost.ioworkmachine.heidi.signpost.io

tablet.anil.signpost.io



Anil's Signpost Server

iphone.anil.signpost.io

desktop.anil.signpost.io

mac.anil.signpost.io

heidi.signpost.io

iphone

laptop

desktop

anil.signpost.io

iphonedesktop

mac

jon.signpost.io

laptop

iphone

Abstract away the internet edge

Empower individuals to create their “own personal cloud” and regain control of their digital footprint

Your Personal Signpost Server● Each virtual personal cloud has a Signpost server,

this has a public IP address ● It maintains up-to date information on the

whereabouts of all the devices in the user's personal cloud

● It has a set of policies which control sharing with other Signposts' users

● There is a persistent connection between the Signpost server and all devices in the user's cloud

● Whenever a device in the user's cloud moves location or network, the Signpost server is notified

Making connections

● The device that wants to initiate the connection performs an "effectful" DNS lookup of the domain name of the other device

● This DNS lookup is destined for the Signpost server of the other device's owner

● When the Signpost server receives this query, it creates a path between the devices and returns an IP address

● The two devices are now happily connected

Heidi's Signpost Serverdesktop.heidi.signpost.io

workmachine.heidi.signpost.io

Goal Of Tactics

To create a satisfactory connection between two end nodes that meets the user's requirements. Possible requirements include:● Authentication● Encryption● Bi-directionality● Anonymity ● Bypassing firewalls

Signposts can also allow for constraints, such as battery life, and price of network connections

Example - Syncing Directories

My home machine

Firewall

NAT Box

My work machine

Example - Video Streaming

My home machine

Example - Photo Sharing

The Project Home

Signposts is part of the OCaml Labs Projectwww.cl.cam.ac.uk/projects/ocamllabs/

Signposts is Open Source & hosted on GitHubwww.github.com/crotsos/signpostd

Some of the Signposts' team that I would like to thank and probably embarrass

More information...

Signpostswww.signpost.iochat to me or some of the other guys on the signposts' team

Documents

Signposts