Souterrain

With the right drapes, the right paints,
the right frames, this could really work
Alexisonfire

Quick updates from Holland. Bring the popcorn.

It's been exactly one month since I started working, and I (almost entirely) realized the first step of my thesis described in the last post. On one hand this meant something like: well... what's next? The answer came today. We had a videoconference with my professors in Rome, deliciously outlining a couple of new steps that will keep me busy for at least one month or so. Wonderful.

Non-office hours? Of course. Rebuilding my life from scratch is quite tricky, but funny. By the way, I'm slowly falling in love with cooking. Not that I am really good at breaking a couple of eggs or other elementary stuff - but it's still a nice way to spend some time, hopefully getting nice results and even expressing oneself... And afterall, look at today's dinner! It's (actually was) so real.

(olives always make the difference. photo by me)

Extra picture today. Before going to bed, I'd like to share with you this bleak one taken in the elevator. Someone should keep me from stealing that nameplate before leaving this place...

(souterrain. photo by me)

Going Technical (not that much)

There's always a siren singing you to shipwreck
Radiohead

As the title suggests, this (pretty verbose) post is for anyone interested in what my work will roughly consist of. For those who do not master things like graph theory and routing protocols, it may still be interesting to read the example below, or to look at the bottom of this post for a colorful example.

The first step of my thesis concerns the enhancement of BGPlay, an application developed by the CompuNet Research Group at Roma Tre University and currently hosted by Oregon Route Views. It shows animated graphs with edges (peerings) connecting nodes (Autonomous Systems), therefore allowing an intuitive analysis of interdomain routing events related to a specified prefix, within a time interval. My contribution will be to adapt BGPlay's interface to the INRDB, a prototypical database realized by the Science Group at the RIPE NCC, containing historical data gathered from many authoritative sources. The aim is to provide an instrument for a long-term, coarse-grained analysis of major trends and events affecting the Internet throughout its (relatively) long history.

In plain words? Alice wastes hours on Facebook playing FarmVille. Her CowComputer unwillingly converts every passionate click into a Mooossage, sending it to some FarmerComputer somewhere. Before reaching the FarmerComputer, every message goes through many welcoming TransitFarms. If a FlockOfDumbSheep proudly blocks the path, the Mooossage is incredibly smart enough to find another way visiting different TransitFarms, without letting Alice notice any difference. If however a MadFarmer puts some misleading road signs on the way to the FarmerComputer, or if some NastyChickens tear down all the bridges to cross over the unfailing river, the Mooossage is only able to commit a honorific suicide. Well, in both cases BGPlay acts as the black box secretly hidden under the Mooossage's skin, allowing Alice to understand what led it to such an extreme action.

If you are still awake, here's a video showing a real case study: the Youtube prefix hijacking by Pakistan Telecom in February 2008. It was realized using the previous version of BGPlay, already hosted by the RIPE NCC for some time. Enjoy!

 (Youtube prefix hijacking. More info here)

Welcome to the RIPE NCC

We hope faith forever keeps us young
Gregor Samsa

Yesterday was my first day at the office. Actually nothing hard, because we still have to choose the proper direction of my future work, and also because the RIPE NCC greets newcomers by introducing them to the staff during the first week, under the guide of mentors (that are employees as well). As a consequence I only challenged myself with tasks like: printing six useless sheets just to check if the remote printer connection was up, almost falling down the typical Dutch stairs and so on...

Changing the subject, I finally bought a second hand bike. Very cheap, very rusty, and above all very Dutch: one noisy bell and no hand brakes. Only foot brakes. I definitely have to practice before falling into a canal.

Finally, just one quick mention about food: as you can see, italians always find their way!

(dinner. photo by me)

Leaving

California, here we come
Phantom Planet

It sounds incredible, but that's it: I am moving to Amsterdam on October 14th to work on my MSc thesis at the RIPE NCC. Some weeks ago I was still wondering what to do with myself - and then this offer came just like a calling from the heavens. It took me one night to realize that there was no choice but to accept it.

Maybe this will be the right excuse to exhume this poor blog left to itself, covered in dust! Updates will follow.

 

(RIPE NCC. retrieved on Google Maps)