Design of a network service processing platform for data path customization

Abstract

Custom packet processing functionality in routers is one of the key characteristics of next-generation Internet architectures. Network services have been proposed as an abstraction to describe, compose, and deploy end-to-end connections with custom communication features. We present a novel hardware architecture for high-performance processing of such network services in the data path. The design provides simple processing units to implement services and a custom hardware infrastructure to manage packets and processing context. The design allows for simple software development, flexible network service allocation, and high scalability to handle traffic at Gigabit line rates.

Implementation of a simplified network processor

“…As discussed in [3], [4], one of the goals of our design is to simplify code development for the network service processing platform. To achieve the desired simplicity, the packet processor is able to directly access on-chip memories, in which instructions (program code for multiple services), data and packets have been stored.…”

“…We have described the general architecture of a simplified network processor in [3], [4], and we review the main aspects of the design in Section III. In this paper, we present a prototype implementation of our simplified network processor.…”

“…Programmabil ity in the data path can be used to implement additional packet processing functions beyond simple IPv4-forwarding [12] or in-network data path service for next-generation networks [13] In prior work, we have shown that it is possible to perform automated program partitioning of workloads [19] as well as to dynamically manage resources on multi-core network processors [20], [21]. Based on these results, we have proposed the basic architecture of the simplified network processor in [3], [4]. While we envision a specific implementation based on our prior work on workload partitioning and resource man agement, it is possible to use different runtime management approaches (e.g., [22], [23]).…”

Data Path Management in Mesh-Based Programmable Routers

“…Inside the grid, packet processors are interconnected by mesh network. Details of packet processor design are discussed in [7]. In this work, we focus on utilization of overall processing grid, which is characterized by Architecture Graph:…”

“…Packet processing operations are presented as task graphs that consist of basic processing steps (e.g., Click elements [6]) and connections that indicate functional dependencies. The processor system is assumed to be a mesh interconnect as proposed in [7]. This problem is challenging since processing and communication is tightly coupled in a network processor.…”