MiddleNet: A High-Performance, Lightweight, Unified NFV and Middlebox Framework

Zeng, Ziteng; Monis, Leslie; Qi, Shixiong; Ramakrishnan, K. K.

doi:10.1109/netsoft54395.2022.9844083

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The protocol processing however adds unnecessary overhead, as it is not required. In addition, we can extend the L2/L3 NF data plane models to support L4/L7 middleboxes by adding a userspace protocol stack; however, this approach is not favored by us for two reasons: (1) we want to use a full-function kernel protocol stack, and (2) having a separate userspace protocol stack in each middlebox function again adds to the memory footprint.…”

Section: B Usability Analysis Of Data Plane Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This paper is an extended version of our previously published IEEE NetSoft 2022[1] paper and IEEE TNSM paper[2]. In this extended version, we additionally perform overhead auditing of our shared memory-based design ( §III) to clearly show the reason why shared memory communication can fundamentally improve the data plane performance for a chain of L2/L3 NFs or L4/L7 middleboxes (details in Appendix-B).…”

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confidence: 99%

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MiddleNet: A Unified, High-Performance NFV and Middlebox Framework With eBPF and DPDK

Zeng

Monis

et al. 2023

IEEE Trans. Netw. Serv. Manage.

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Traditional network resident functions (e.g., firewalls, network address translation) and middleboxes (caches, load balancers) have moved from purpose-built appliances to softwarebased components. However, L2/L3 network functions (NFs) are being implemented on Network Function Virtualization (NFV) platforms that extensively exploit kernel-bypass technology. They often use DPDK for zero-copy delivery and high performance. On the other hand, L4/L7 middleboxes, which have a greater emphasis on functionality, take advantage of a full-fledged kernelbased system.L2/L3 NFs and L4/L7 middleboxes continue to be handled by distinct platforms on different nodes. This paper proposes MiddleNet that develops a unified network resident function framework that supports L2/L3 NFs and L4/L7 middleboxes. MiddleNet supports function chains that are essential in both NFV and middlebox environments. MiddleNet uses the Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) library for zero-copy packet delivery without interrupt-based processing, to enable the 'bumpin-the-wire' L2/L3 processing performance required of NFV. To support L4/L7 middlebox functionality, MiddleNet utilizes a consolidated, kernel-based protocol stack for processing, avoiding a dedicated protocol stack for each function. MiddleNet fully exploits the event-driven capabilities of the extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) and seamlessly integrates it with shared memory for high-performance communication in L4/L7 middlebox function chains. The overheads for MiddleNet in L4/L7 are strictly load-proportional, without needing the dedicated CPU cores of DPDK-based approaches. MiddleNet supports flow-dependent packet processing by leveraging Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) to dynamically select the packet processing needed (Layers 2 -7). Our experimental results show that MiddleNet achieves high performance in such a unified environment. 1

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Section: B Usability Analysis Of Data Plane Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

MiddleNet: A Unified, High-Performance NFV and Middlebox Framework With eBPF and DPDK

Zeng

Monis

et al. 2023

IEEE Trans. Netw. Serv. Manage.

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“…Zeng proposed Middle Net, a unified L2/L3 NFV and L4/L7 middle box framework. Middle Net uses DPDK for high-performance, zero-copy packet delivery in L2/L3 NFV [15]. The sleep-based approach proposed by Wu not only reduces the high not-used power waste and high CPU usage caused by DPDK's empty polling but also reduces the negative impact of DPDK's high CPU usage on other services [16].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Optimization Method of Large-Scale Video Stream Concurrent Transmission for Edge Computing

2023

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Concurrent access to large-scale video data streams in edge computing is an important application scenario that currently faces a high cost of network access equipment and high data packet loss rate. To solve this problem, a low-cost link aggregation video stream data concurrent transmission method is proposed. Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) technology supports the concurrent receiving and forwarding function of multiple Network Interface Cards (NICs). The Q-learning data stream scheduling model is proposed to solve the load scheduling of multiple queues of multiple NICs. The Central Processing Unit (CPU) transmission processing unit was dynamically selected by data stream classification, as well as a reward function, to achieve the dynamic load balancing of data stream transmission. The experiments conducted demonstrate that this method expands the bandwidth by 3.6 times over the benchmark scheme for a single network port, and reduces the average CPU load ratio by 18%. Compared to the UDP and DPDK schemes, it lowers the average system latency by 21%, reduces the data transmission packet loss rate by 0.48%, and improves the overall system transmission throughput. This transmission optimization scheme can be applied in data centers and edge computing clusters to improve the communication performance of big data processing.

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MiddleNet: A High-Performance, Lightweight, Unified NFV and Middlebox Framework

Cited by 2 publications

References 7 publications

MiddleNet: A Unified, High-Performance NFV and Middlebox Framework With eBPF and DPDK

MiddleNet: A Unified, High-Performance NFV and Middlebox Framework With eBPF and DPDK

An Optimization Method of Large-Scale Video Stream Concurrent Transmission for Edge Computing

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