Routing and Transports

Ockam Routing and Transports enable other Ockam protocols to provide end-to-end guarantees like trust, security, privacy, reliable delivery, and ordering at the application layer.

Data, within modern applications, routinely flows over complex, multi-hop, multi-protocol routes before reaching its end destination. It’s common for application layer requests and data to move across network boundaries, beyond data centers, via shared or public networks, through queues and caches, from gateways and brokers to reach remote services and other distributed parts of an application.

Our goal is to enable end-to-end application layer guarantees in any communication topology. For example Ockam Secure Channels can provide end-to-end guarantees of data authenticity, integrity, and confidentiality in any of the above communication topologies.

In contrast, traditional secure communication protocol implementations are typically tightly coupled with transport protocols in a way that all their security is limited to the length and duration of the underlying transport connections.

For example, most implementations are coupled to the underlying TCP connection. If your application’s data and requests travel over two TCP connection hops TCP -> TCP then all TLS guarantees break at the bridge between the two networks. This bridge, gateway or load balancer then becomes a point of weakness for application data. To makes matters worse, if you don't setup another mutually authenticated TLS connection on the second hop between the gateway and your destination server then the entire second hop network – all applications and machines within it – become attack vectors to your application and its data.

Traditional secure communication protocols are also unable to protect your application’s data if it travels over multiple different transport protocols. They can’t guarantee data authenticity or data integrity if your application’s communication path is UDP -> TCP or BLE -> TCP.

Ockam Routing is a simple and lightweight message based protocol that makes it possible to bidirectionally exchange message over a large variety of communication topologies: TCP -> TCP or TCP -> TCP -> TCP or BLE -> UDP -> TCP or BLE -> TCP -> TCP or TCP -> Kafka -> TCP and more.

By layering Ockam Secure Channels and other protocols over Ockam Routing, we can provide end-to-end guarantees over arbitrary transport topologies.

Routing

So far, we've created an "echoer" worker in our node, sent it a message, and received a reply. This worker was a simple one hop away from our "app" worker.

To achieve this, messages carry with them two metadata fields: onward_route and return_route, where a route is a list of addresses.

To get a sense of how that works, let's route a message over two hops.

Protocol

Sender:

Needs to know the route to a destination, makes that route the onward_route of a new message
Makes its own address the return_route of the new message

Hop:

Removes its own address from beginning of onward_route
Adds its own address to beginning of return_route

Replier:

Makes return_route of incoming message, onward_route of outgoing message
Makes its own address the return_route of the new message

Hop worker

For demonstration, we'll create a simple worker, called Hop, that takes every incoming message and forwards it to the next address in the onward_route of that message.

Just before forwarding the message, Hop's handle message function will:

Print the message
Remove its own address (first address) from the onward_route, by calling step()
Insert its own address as the first address in the return_route by calling prepend()

Create a new file at:

touch src/hop.rs

Add the following code to this file:

// src/hop.rs
use ockam::{Any, Context, Result, Routed, Worker};

pub struct Hop;

#[ockam::worker]
impl Worker for Hop {
    type Context = Context;
    type Message = Any;

    /// This handle function takes any incoming message and forwards
    /// it to the next hop in it's onward route
    async fn handle_message(&mut self, ctx: &mut Context, msg: Routed<Any>) -> Result<()> {
        println!("Address: {}, Received: {:?}", ctx.address(), msg);

        // Send the message to the next worker on its onward_route
        ctx.forward(msg.into_local_message().step_forward(&ctx.address())?)
            .await
    }
}

To make this Hop type accessible to our main program, export it from src/lib.rs by adding the following to it:

mod hop;
pub use hop::*;

Echoer worker

We'll also use the Echoer worker that we created in the previous example. So make sure that it stays exported from src/lib.rs.

App worker

Next, let's create our main "app" worker.

In the code below we start an Echoer worker at address "echoer" and a Hop worker at address "h1". Then, we send a message along the h1 => echoer route by passing route!["h1", "echoer"] to send(..).

Create a new file at:

touch examples/03-routing.rs

Add the following code to this file:

// examples/03-routing.rs
// This node routes a message.

use hello_ockam::{Echoer, Hop};
use ockam::{node, route, Context, Result};

#[ockam::node]
async fn main(ctx: Context) -> Result<()> {
    // Create a node with default implementations
    let mut node = node(ctx).await?;

    // Start a worker, of type Echoer, at address "echoer"
    node.start_worker("echoer", Echoer).await?;

    // Start a worker, of type Hop, at address "h1"
    node.start_worker("h1", Hop).await?;

    // Send a message to the worker at address "echoer",
    // via the worker at address "h1"
    node.send(route!["h1", "echoer"], "Hello Ockam!".to_string()).await?;

    // Wait to receive a reply and print it.
    let reply = node.receive::<String>().await?;
    println!("App Received: {}", reply.into_body()?); // should print "Hello Ockam!"

    // Stop all workers, stop the node, cleanup and return.
    node.stop().await
}

To run this new node program:

cargo run --example 03-routing

Note the message flow and how routing information is manipulated as the message travels.

Routing over many hops

Routing is not limited to one or two hops, we can easily create routes with many hops. Let's try that in a quick example:

This time we'll create multiple hop workers between the "app" and the "echoer" and route our message through them.

Create a new file at:

touch examples/03-routing-many-hops.rs

Add the following code to this file:

// examples/03-routing-many-hops.rs
// This node routes a message through many hops.

use hello_ockam::{Echoer, Hop};
use ockam::{node, route, Context, Result};

#[ockam::node]
async fn main(ctx: Context) -> Result<()> {
    // Create a node with default implementations
    let mut node = node(ctx).await?;

    // Start an Echoer worker at address "echoer"
    node.start_worker("echoer", Echoer).await?;

    // Start 3 hop workers at addresses "h1", "h2" and "h3".
    node.start_worker("h1", Hop).await?;
    node.start_worker("h2", Hop).await?;
    node.start_worker("h3", Hop).await?;

    // Send a message to the echoer worker via the "h1", "h2", and "h3" workers
    let r = route!["h1", "h2", "h3", "echoer"];
    node.send(r, "Hello Ockam!".to_string()).await?;

    // Wait to receive a reply and print it.
    let reply = node.receive::<String>().await?;
    println!("App Received: {}", reply.into_body()?); // should print "Hello Ockam!"

    // Stop all workers, stop the node, cleanup and return.
    node.stop().await
}

To run this new node program:

cargo run --example 03-routing-many-hops

Note the message flow.

Transport

An Ockam Transport is a plugin for Ockam Routing. It moves Ockam Routing messages using a specific transport protocol like TCP, UDP, WebSockets, Bluetooth etc.

In previous examples, we routed messages locally within one node. Routing messages over transport layer connections looks very similar.

Let's try the TcpTransport, we'll need to create two nodes: a responder and an initiator.

Create a new file at:

touch examples/04-routing-over-transport-responder.rs

Add the following code to this file:

// examples/04-routing-over-transport-responder.rs
// This node starts a tcp listener and an echoer worker.
// It then runs forever waiting for messages.

use hello_ockam::Echoer;
use ockam::{node, Context, Result, TcpListenerOptions, TcpTransportExtension};

#[ockam::node]
async fn main(ctx: Context) -> Result<()> {
    // Create a node with default implementations
    let node = node(ctx).await?;

    // Initialize the TCP Transport
    let tcp = node.create_tcp_transport().await?;

    // Create an echoer worker
    node.start_worker("echoer", Echoer).await?;

    // Create a TCP listener and wait for incoming connections.
    let listener = tcp.listen("127.0.0.1:4000", TcpListenerOptions::new()).await?;

    // Allow access to the Echoer via TCP connections from the TCP listener
    node.flow_controls().add_consumer("echoer", listener.flow_control_id());

    // Don't call node.stop() here so this node runs forever.
    Ok(())
}

Initiator node

Create a new file at:

touch examples/04-routing-over-transport-initiator.rs

Add the following code to this file:

// examples/04-routing-over-transport-initiator.rs
// This node routes a message, to a worker on a different node, over the tcp transport.

use ockam::{node, route, Context, Result, TcpConnectionOptions, TcpTransportExtension};

#[ockam::node]
async fn main(ctx: Context) -> Result<()> {
    // Create a node with default implementations
    let mut node = node(ctx).await?;

    // Initialize the TCP Transport.
    let tcp = node.create_tcp_transport().await?;

    // Create a TCP connection to a different node.
    let connection_to_responder = tcp.connect("localhost:4000", TcpConnectionOptions::new()).await?;

    // Send a message to the "echoer" worker on a different node, over a tcp transport.
    // Wait to receive a reply and print it.
    let r = route![connection_to_responder, "echoer"];
    let reply = node.send_and_receive::<String>(r, "Hello Ockam!".to_string()).await?;

    println!("App Received: {}", reply); // should print "Hello Ockam!"

    // Stop all workers, stop the node, cleanup and return.
    node.stop().await
}

Run

Run the responder in a separate terminal tab and keep it running:

cargo run --example 04-routing-over-transport-responder

Run the initiator:

cargo run --example 04-routing-over-transport-initiator

Note the message flow.

Routing over two transport hops

Relay worker

For demonstration, we'll create another worker, called Relay, that takes every incoming message and forwards it to the predefined address.

Just before forwarding the message, Relay's handle message function will:

Print the message
Remove its own address (first address) from the onward_route, by calling step()
Insert predefined address as the first address in the onward_route by calling prepend()

Create a new file at:

touch src/relay.rs

Add the following code to this file:

// src/relay.rs
use ockam::{Address, Any, Context, Result, Routed, Worker};

pub struct Relay(pub Address);

#[ockam::worker]
impl Worker for Relay {
    type Context = Context;
    type Message = Any;

    /// This handle function takes any incoming message and forwards
    /// it to the next hop in it's onward route
    async fn handle_message(&mut self, ctx: &mut Context, msg: Routed<Any>) -> Result<()> {
        println!("Address: {}, Received: {:?}", ctx.address(), msg);

        // Some type conversion
        let mut local_message = msg.into_local_message();

        local_message = local_message.replace_front_onward_route(&self.0)?; // Prepend predefined address to the ownward_route

        let prev_hop = local_message.return_route_ref().next()?.clone();

        if let Some(info) = ctx.flow_controls().find_flow_control_with_producer_address(&self.0) {
            ctx.flow_controls()
                .add_consumer(prev_hop.clone(), info.flow_control_id());
        }

        if let Some(info) = ctx.flow_controls().find_flow_control_with_producer_address(&prev_hop) {
            ctx.flow_controls().add_consumer(self.0.clone(), info.flow_control_id());
        }

        // Send the message on its onward_route
        ctx.forward(local_message).await
    }
}

To make this Relay type accessible to our main program, export it from src/lib.rs by adding the following to it:

mod relay;
pub use relay::*;

Responder node

Create a new file at:

touch examples/04-routing-over-transport-two-hops-responder.rs

Add the following code to this file:

// examples/04-routing-over-transport-two-hops-responder.rs
// This node starts a tcp listener and an echoer worker.
// It then runs forever waiting for messages.

use hello_ockam::Echoer;
use ockam::{node, Context, Result, TcpListenerOptions, TcpTransportExtension};

#[ockam::node]
async fn main(ctx: Context) -> Result<()> {
    // Create a node with default implementations
    let node = node(ctx).await?;

    // Initialize the TCP Transport
    let tcp = node.create_tcp_transport().await?;

    // Create an echoer worker
    node.start_worker("echoer", Echoer).await?;

    // Create a TCP listener and wait for incoming connections.
    let listener = tcp.listen("127.0.0.1:4000", TcpListenerOptions::new()).await?;

    // Allow access to the Echoer via TCP connections from the TCP listener
    node.flow_controls().add_consumer("echoer", listener.flow_control_id());

    // Don't call node.stop() here so this node runs forever.
    Ok(())
}

Middle node

Create a new file at:

touch examples/04-routing-over-transport-two-hops-middle.rs

Add the following code to this file:

// examples/04-routing-over-transport-two-hops-middle.rs
// This node creates a tcp connection to a node at 127.0.0.1:4000
// Starts a relay worker to forward messages to 127.0.0.1:4000
// Starts a tcp listener at 127.0.0.1:3000
// It then runs forever waiting to route messages.

use hello_ockam::Relay;
use ockam::{node, Context, Result, TcpConnectionOptions, TcpListenerOptions, TcpTransportExtension};

#[ockam::node]
async fn main(ctx: Context) -> Result<()> {
    // Create a node with default implementations
    let node = node(ctx).await?;

    // Initialize the TCP Transport
    let tcp = node.create_tcp_transport().await?;

    // Create a TCP connection to the responder node.
    let connection_to_responder = tcp.connect("127.0.0.1:4000", TcpConnectionOptions::new()).await?;

    // Create a Relay worker
    node.start_worker("forward_to_responder", Relay(connection_to_responder.into()))
        .await?;

    // Create a TCP listener and wait for incoming connections.
    let listener = tcp.listen("127.0.0.1:3000", TcpListenerOptions::new()).await?;

    // Allow access to the Relay via TCP connections from the TCP listener
    node.flow_controls()
        .add_consumer("forward_to_responder", listener.flow_control_id());

    // Don't call node.stop() here so this node runs forever.
    Ok(())
}

Initiator node

Create a new file at:

touch examples/04-routing-over-transport-two-hops-initiator.rs

Add the following code to this file:

// examples/04-routing-over-transport-two-hops-initiator.rs
// This node routes a message, to a worker on a different node, over two tcp transport hops.

use ockam::{node, route, Context, Result, TcpConnectionOptions, TcpTransportExtension};

#[ockam::node]
async fn main(ctx: Context) -> Result<()> {
    // Create a node with default implementations
    let mut node = node(ctx).await?;

    // Initialize the TCP Transport
    let tcp = node.create_tcp_transport().await?;

    // Create a TCP connection to the middle node.
    let connection_to_middle_node = tcp.connect("localhost:3000", TcpConnectionOptions::new()).await?;

    // Send a message to the "echoer" worker, on a different node, over two tcp hops.
    // Wait to receive a reply and print it.
    let r = route![connection_to_middle_node, "forward_to_responder", "echoer"];
    let reply = node.send_and_receive::<String>(r, "Hello Ockam!".to_string()).await?;
    println!("App Received: {}", reply); // should print "Hello Ockam!"

    // Stop all workers, stop the node, cleanup and return.
    node.stop().await
}

Run

Run the responder in a separate terminal tab and keep it running:

cargo run --example 04-routing-over-transport-two-hops-responder

Run the middle node in a separate terminal tab and keep it running:

cargo run --example 04-routing-over-transport-two-hops-middle

Run the initiator:

cargo run --example 04-routing-over-transport-two-hops-initiator

Note how the message is routed.

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