So university is already in it’s second week down here in New Zealand, and things are already getting underway, with my first assignment due today. I’m taking some “interesting” papers this semester. Operating Systems will be really good, as we are learning how to write Linux modules, and we in fact are going to write a file system for Waikato Universities “unique” cluster computer (it has been described as just an office network running fancy software, and in fact it is pretty much just a bunch of Dell computers on an ethernet network), with the main focus being something that supports migration from one node’s hard drive to another. Advanced Communications may or may not actually help me in the real world, I’m not sure, but it’s all just to do with carrier networks and setting up/maintaining a network in a workplace or ISP. For fun I decided my last paper to be “Graphics and Computer Games”, which focuses more on graphics than anything, using C# and Microsofts (sorry for saying a dirty word) XNA package. Sadly, I’m actually already a huge fan of XNA after only a week. I’ve already gone from no previous knowledge to having 3D models loaded on the screen and letting the user control the camera. Yes its that easy.

The Goggle Summer of Code midterm evaluations have been completed, and I passed, despite being able to work much on MPLS for the past while, and not being as far through the project as I had hoped, but thanks to the money I have now been able to cut 2 or 3 days a week off my work at the liquor store, so I can concentrate more on getting this project working. Also, I got myself a 26″ Viewsonic screen.

On to the report.

Accomplished Last Week:

- With the normal start of semester stuff going on I wasnt able to do much more on MPLS, other than try to sort out where I am supposed to call my mplsintr function from. In OpenBSD this is done directly inside netisr, but in FreeBSD this is not the case. If anyone has any ideas on this please leave a comment as it would save me a lot of time.

Plans for Next Week:

 - I have the next 2 days off with no work and no uni, so depending on how much work my lecturers gve me today I will have at least 1 full day to work on MPLS. I am hoping to figure out the netisr problem and have the port completely finished by Sunday.

- Work out my next step and where the port has left me. As far as I can tell, once the port from OpenBSD is done I will be able to send and receive MPLS packets, and switch the label based on a table that is manually setup using the route command. From there I would like to look at setting up automatic route table stuff, using Ayame’s MPLS-TE code as a basis, but it might turn out that there are more pressing features of MPLS that need my attention.

Haven’t done one of these for the past two weeks, due to a very hectic holiday travelling to a few different places to catch up with friends and family while I still had a chance.

Accomplished Last Week:

- Began porting over the Ayame/OpenBSD code to FreeBSD. The problem I’ve come across at the moment is in the differences between OpenBSD and FreeBSD in terms of the netisr stuff. I’m looking into at the moment and should hopefully have it done soon.

- Turned 24. For those of you who know me, you’ll realise that it was quite an accomplishment for me to make it this far through my life and still be alive.

- GSoC midterm evaluations were submitted, only 6 weeks left in the program.

Plans for this week:

- University has started up again for me, and its straight back into it. Luckily it looks like I’m going to be able to work a few less days a week thanks to my GSoC money and having my work employ a few new people, so I should be able to devote a few more days a week to MPLS.

- Finish porting over the OpenBSD code. This will mean I will be able to send and receive MPLS packets, using labels that can be manually entered using the route command. I have to still look into the code a bit more to decipher if the label switching is doing everything I was planning on implementing with it.

Real Life really doesnt like me working on this project. Thanks to exam time at university I was have to cover a few shifts for other students this past week, and ended up doing 6 days in a row. Thankfully I have some holiday time coming up starting this Thursday, and while I’ll be away for both weekends I’m on holiday I’ll have a full week to work on MPLS from the moment I get up to the moment I go to sleep, without any distractions.

Accomplished Last Week:

- Worked on my FreeBSD wiki pages.

- Went over OpenBSD/Ayame code again to try and get a bit more understanding on how it works.

Plans for Next Week:

- Port over the protocol description file mpls_proto.c, then begin working on porting over code for simple sending and receiving of MPLS packets.

- Once sending and receiving is working, look at implementing static label switching, then working towards dynamic label switching off a routing table.

Man these weeks are flying by. I managed to get a bit of work done on MPLS, but not much, before a suprise trip to visit friends up in Auckland dragged me away for the weekend.

Accomplished Last Week:

- Began looking over the OpenBSD implementation, looking through what has been submitted on their CVS, and just generally trying to get how the code does what it needs to do, and where it does it.

- Finally got a call back with an answer from IBM about my application. They have decided not to invite me to their interview day this time, but apparently if they hold another one then they will invite me to that. I’m not holding my breath. It appears as though it is very hard to get a job in New Zealand working with operating systems or networking stuff, unless you have experience. Unfortunately for me, my grades in my first 2 years of uni where anything but flash, and I seem to be suffering for it now. It’s almost making me wish I had some PHP or web programming under my belt, which is what all the NZ jobs seem to be looking for. Oh well, onwards and upwards with the job hunt hopefully.

Plans for Next Week:

- Once I have sorted out the licencing stuff with using OpenBSDs code (I havent had anything to do with Open Source licences befire, and I dont want to step on anyones toes by doing the wrong thing) then I will be porting over the code that I need to start working on.

- Figure out where exactly the code from OpenBSD has gotten to in terms of my plans, and then start working on improving it or moving on to new features I need.

Thats all for now. If anyone knows of any jobs in NZ for someone studing networking and operating systems, let me know

Yet again another week has gone by, and unfortunately I still havent accomplished much on MPLS. However, university has finished for me until mid July, so I will be working on it as much as I can between now and then.

Accomplished Last Week:

- Nothing, well, not completely nothing, just nothing MPLS related. I had my last test and report done by Thursday, and I’ve worked almost every day since, so I havent had much time to work on MPLS.

Plans for this Week:

- Begin browsing and porting over code from OpenBSDs under development version of MPLS, which I believe is based a lot on the Ayame MPLS patch for NetBSD. Aren’t we all just a big happy family of BSD’s after all?

- Will start by getting the protocol description file done, and then look at receiving MPLS packets, then maybe if I get time I will transfer over sending packets. I dont want to just coy and paste, compile, debug and hope I can get it to work, cause I really want to understand how it works right down to the basics, and I wont if I just rush through it all.