MOSAIC: Stateless mobility for HTTP-based applications

We present a mobility solution for stateless applications, where the mobile host can change its IP address as well as the content servers used by ongoing client sessions. This allows content retrieval to always use the locally optimal source when the host moves between networks. We refer to this approach as “stateless mobility” since neither the network nor the content servers hold mobility-related state information. Our mobility solution, referred to as MOSAIC, is applied to HTTP sessions using GET method invocation, which represent a large fraction of mobile Internet traffic. By moving MOSAIC underneath the socket interface, we create a generic application-independent feature. We realized a lightweight implementation using an L3 packet filter, which promises easy portability to other platforms. MOSAIC´s overall concept is evaluated via measurements using public Internet services.