Abstract

There is growing interest in network processor technologies capable of processing packets at line rates. In this paper, we present the design, implementation and evaluation of NetBind, a high performance, flexible and scalable binding tool for dynamically constructing data paths in network processor-based routers. The methodology that underpins NetBind balances the flexibility of network programmability against the need to process and forward packets at line speeds. Data paths constructed using NetBind seamlessly share the resources of the same network processor. We compare the performance of NetBind to the MicroACE system developed by Intel to support binding between software components running on Intel IXP1200 network processors. We evaluate these alternative approaches in terms of their binding overhead, and discuss how this can affect the forwarding performance of IPv4 data paths running on IXP1200 network processor-based routers. We show that NetBind provides better performance in comparison to MicroACE with smaller binding overhead. The NetBind source code described and evaluated in this paper is freely available on the Web (comet.columbia.edu/genesis/netbind) for experimentation. .

The ability to rapidly create and deploy new transport, control and management architectures in response to new service demands is a key factor driving the programmable networking community. Competition between service providers may hinge on the speed at which one provider can respond to new market demands over another. The notion of open programmable networks is having broad impact on service providers and vendors across a range of telecommunication sectors calling for major advances in open network control architecture, network programmability and distributed systems technology. In this paper we discuss the origins of the Open Signalling Working Group (OPENSIG) and present a summary of the fifth Workshop on Open Signaling for ATM, Internet and Mobile Networks (OPENSIG'98), which was held at the University of Toronto, Ontario, October, 1998. We also discuss a number of new initiatives in the area of open programmable networks that have recently emerged.

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