Creating Correct Network Protocols

Abstract: Network protocol construction is a complex and error prone task. The challenges originate both from the inherent complexity of developing correct program code and from the distributed nature of networked systems. Protocol errors can have devastating consequences. Even so, methods for ensuring protocol correctness are currently only used to a limited extent. A central reason for this is that they are often complex and expensive to employ. In this thesis, we develop methods to perform network protocol testing and verification, with the goal to make the techniques more accessible and readily adoptable.We examine how to formulate correctness requirements for ad hoc routing protocols used to set up forwarding paths in wireless networks. Model checking is a way to verify such requirements automatically. We investigate scalability of finite-state model checking, in terms of network size and topological complexity, and devise a manual abstraction technique to improve scalability.A methodology combining simulations, emulations, and real world experiments is developed for analyzing the performance of wireless protocol implementations. The technique is applied in a comparison of the ad hoc routing protocols AODV, DSR, and OLSR. Discrepancies between simulations and real world behavior are identified; these are due to absence of realistic radio propagation and mobility models in simulation. The issues are mainly related to how the protocols sense their network surroundings and we identify improvements to these capabilities.Finally, we develop a methodology and a tool for automatic verification of safety properties of infinite-state network protocols, modeled as graph transformation systems extended with negative application conditions. The verification uses symbolic backward reachability analysis. By introducing abstractions in the form of summary nodes, the method is extended to protocols with recursive data structures. Our tool automatically verifies correct routing of the DYMO ad hoc routing protocol and several nontrivial heap manipulating programs.