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Quant QUIC Implementation¤

Development Status

This plugin is currently in development phase.

Plugin Type: Service (Implementation Under Test)

Verified Source Location: plugins/services/iut/quic/quant/

Purpose and Overview¤

The Quant plugin provides integration with the Quant QUIC implementation, a research-oriented C library developed for academic and experimental QUIC protocol evaluation. Quant focuses on protocol correctness, extensibility, and research applications rather than production performance, making it ideal for protocol research and educational purposes.

The Quant implementation plugin enables:

  • Academic research and protocol experimentation
  • QUIC specification conformance validation
  • Educational protocol analysis and learning
  • Experimental feature development and testing
  • Protocol extension and modification research

Requirements and Dependencies¤

The plugin requires:

  • Quant Library: Academic QUIC implementation in C
  • OpenSSL: Cryptographic operations and TLS 1.3
  • libev: Event loop library for network operations
  • Build Tools: GCC/Clang, make, cmake, pkg-config

Docker-based deployment includes all necessary dependencies and build environment.

Configuration Options¤

Version Configuration¤

Parameter Type Default Description
version String "" Quant library version/branch
commit String "" Specific git commit hash
dependencies List [] Additional library dependencies

Basic Configuration¤

Parameter Type Default Description
role String "server" Service role: "server" or "client"
port Integer 4433 QUIC port number
bind_addr String "0.0.0.0" Address to bind (server mode)
server_addr String "" Server address (client mode)
cert_file String "" X.509 certificate file path
key_file String "" Private key file path

Protocol Parameters¤

Parameter Type Default Description
quic_version String "1" QUIC version to use
alpn_protocols List ["hq-interop"] ALPN protocol negotiation list
initial_max_data Integer 1048576 Initial connection data limit
initial_max_stream_data Integer 262144 Initial stream data limit
max_streams_bidi Integer 100 Maximum bidirectional streams
max_streams_uni Integer 100 Maximum unidirectional streams

Research and Debug Options¤

Parameter Type Default Description
debug_level Integer 0 Debug verbosity (0-5)
qlog_enabled Boolean false Enable qlog tracing
qlog_file String "" qlog output file path
keylog_file String "" TLS keylog file for analysis
packet_trace Boolean false Enable packet-level tracing

Experimental Features¤

Parameter Type Default Description
enable_0rtt Boolean false Enable 0-RTT connection establishment
connection_migration Boolean false Enable connection migration
multipath Boolean false Enable multipath QUIC (experimental)
spin_bit Boolean false Enable spin bit for latency measurement
loss_detection_algo String "rfc" Loss detection algorithm variant

Usage Examples¤

Basic Research Setup¤

services:
  iut:
    type: "quant"
    role: "server"
    port: 4433
    cert_file: "/certs/test.crt"
    key_file: "/certs/test.key"
    debug_level: 2
    qlog_enabled: true
    qlog_file: "/logs/quant-trace.qlog"

Protocol Conformance Testing¤

services:
  iut:
    type: "quant"
    role: "server"
    port: 4433
    quic_version: "1"
    alpn_protocols: ["hq-interop", "h3"]
    initial_max_data: 1048576
    max_streams_bidi: 10
    keylog_file: "/debug/quant-keys.log"
    packet_trace: true

Experimental Features Testing¤

services:
  iut:
    type: "quant"
    role: "server"
    port: 4433
    # Enable experimental features
    enable_0rtt: true
    connection_migration: true
    multipath: true
    spin_bit: true
    debug_level: 3

Client Testing Configuration¤

services:
  iut:
    type: "quant"
    role: "client"
    server_addr: "research.example.com"
    port: 4433
    alpn_protocols: ["hq-interop"]
    qlog_enabled: true
    qlog_file: "/logs/client-trace.qlog"
    debug_level: 1

Features¤

Research-Oriented Design¤

  • Clean Implementation: Readable, well-documented code
  • Modular Architecture: Easy modification and extension
  • Extensive Logging: Detailed protocol event tracing
  • Debugging Support: Rich debugging and analysis tools

QUIC Protocol Support¤

  • RFC 9000 Compliance: Full QUIC transport implementation
  • Version Negotiation: Multi-version support for compatibility
  • Stream Management: Bidirectional and unidirectional streams
  • Flow Control: Connection and stream-level flow control
  • Loss Recovery: Configurable loss detection algorithms

Experimental Features¤

  • 0-RTT Connections: Zero Round Trip Time establishment
  • Connection Migration: Transparent endpoint changes
  • Multipath QUIC: Multiple network path utilization
  • Spin Bit: Latency measurement support
  • Custom Extensions: Framework for protocol extensions

Analysis and Debugging¤

  • qlog Integration: Detailed protocol event logging
  • Packet Tracing: Complete packet-level analysis
  • TLS Key Logging: Cryptographic key extraction
  • Performance Metrics: Connection and stream statistics

Research Applications¤

Protocol Analysis¤

  • QUIC specification conformance verification
  • Interoperability testing with other implementations
  • Protocol behavior analysis under various conditions
  • Security property validation and testing

Performance Research¤

  • Congestion control algorithm evaluation
  • Flow control mechanism analysis
  • Loss recovery strategy comparison
  • Network path utilization studies

Educational Use Cases¤

  • Protocol implementation learning
  • Network programming education
  • Cryptographic protocol analysis
  • Distributed systems research

Development and Extension¤

Custom Protocol Extensions¤

// Example: Custom frame type implementation
typedef struct custom_frame {
    quant_frame_type_t type;
    uint64_t custom_data;
    uint8_t flags;
} custom_frame_t;

// Register custom frame handler
int register_custom_frame(quant_conn_t *conn,
                         custom_frame_handler_t handler);

Research Hooks¤

// Connection event callbacks
struct research_callbacks {
    void (*on_packet_sent)(quant_conn_t *, quant_pkt_t *);
    void (*on_packet_received)(quant_conn_t *, quant_pkt_t *);
    void (*on_loss_detected)(quant_conn_t *, quant_pkt_t *);
    void (*on_rtt_updated)(quant_conn_t *, uint64_t rtt);
};

Experimental Configuration¤

services:
  iut:
    type: "quant"
    role: "server"
    # Research-specific settings
    custom_frame_types: [0x40, 0x41]  # Experimental frame types
    loss_detection_algo: "custom"      # Custom algorithm
    cc_algorithm: "experimental"       # Research congestion control
    debug_level: 5                     # Maximum verbosity

Testing and Validation¤

Conformance Testing¤

  • QUIC specification compliance verification
  • Cross-implementation interoperability testing
  • Protocol state machine validation
  • Error handling correctness verification

Research Validation¤

  • Custom extension functionality testing
  • Performance characteristic measurement
  • Protocol behavior analysis under stress
  • Security property verification

Educational Testing¤

# Simple educational setup
services:
  iut:
    type: "quant"
    role: "server"
    port: 4433
    debug_level: 3
    qlog_enabled: true
    # Simplified parameters for learning
    max_streams_bidi: 1
    initial_max_data: 65536

Troubleshooting¤

Common Issues¤

Build Problems

  • Ensure all development dependencies are installed
  • Check OpenSSL version compatibility
  • Verify libev library availability
  • Review compiler version requirements

Protocol Issues

  • Enable debug logging to trace protocol events
  • Use qlog files for detailed protocol analysis
  • Check certificate configuration and validity
  • Verify network connectivity and firewall rules

Research Setup Issues

  • Configure appropriate debug levels for analysis
  • Enable packet tracing for detailed examination
  • Use keylog files for cryptographic analysis
  • Set up proper qlog visualization tools

Debug Configuration¤

services:
  iut:
    type: "quant"
    debug_level: 5          # Maximum debugging
    qlog_enabled: true
    qlog_file: "/debug/trace.qlog"
    keylog_file: "/debug/keys.log"
    packet_trace: true

Analysis Tools Integration¤

# qlog analysis with qvis
qvis /debug/trace.qlog

# Wireshark analysis with keylog
wireshark -o tls.keylog_file:/debug/keys.log capture.pcap

# Custom analysis scripts
python analyze_quant_logs.py /debug/trace.qlog

References¤