Pc-based software routers: high performance and application service support

ABSTRACT

Despite high potential and flexibility in developing new functionalities and mechanisms, as well as the availability of well-established networking SW, common criticism of Software Routers, based on COTS HW elements and open-source SW, is mainly focused on performance, especially for issues concerning the data plane. In this respect, our contribution is aimed at evaluation of architectural bottlenecks limiting the scalability of Software Router performance, and identification of SW and HW enhancements needed to overcome these limitations. Starting from these considerations, we propose a feasible Software Router HW/SW solution able to boost data plane performance while maintaining the flexibility level typical of a SW approach.

REFERENCES

• 1: Zhenhai Duan , Zhi-Li Zhang , Yiwei Thomas Hou, Service Overlay Networks: SLAs, QoS and Bandwidth Provisioning, Proceedings of the 10th IEEE International Conference on Network Protocols, p.334-343, November 12-15, 2002
• 2: Eddie Kohler , Robert Morris , Benjie Chen , John Jannotti , M. Frans Kaashoek, The click modular router, ACM Transactions on Computer Systems (TOCS), v.18 n.3, p.263-297, Aug. 2000 [doi>10.1145/354871.354874]
• 3: Mark Handley , Orion Hodson , Eddie Kohler, XORP: an open platform for network research, ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, v.33 n.1, p.53-57, January 2003 [doi>10.1145/774763.774771]
• 4: Bolla, R. and Bruschi, R., 2007. Linux Software Router: Data Plane Optimization and Performance Evaluation Journal of Networks (JNW) 2, 3, Academy Publisher, 6--11.
• 5: David Geer, Industry Trends: Chip Makers Turn to Multicore Processors, Computer, v.38 n.5, p.11-13, May 2005 [doi>10.1109/MC.2005.160]
• 6: Bolla, R. and Bruschi, R., 2008. An Effective Forwarding Architecture for SMP Linux Routers. Proc. of the 4th Int. Telecom. Networking Workshop on QoS in Multiservice IP Networks (QoS-IP 2008), Venice, Italy, 210--216.
• 7: Bolla, R. and Bruschi, R., 2006. IP forwarding Performance Analysis in presence of Control Plane Functionalities in a PC-based Open Router. In Distributed Cooperative Laboratories: Networking, Instrumentation, and Measurements, Springer, Norwell, MA, 143--158.
• 8: Jamal Hadi Salim , Robert Olsson , Alexey Kuznetsov, Beyond softnet, Proceedings of the 5th annual Linux Showcase & Conference, p.18-18, November 05-10, 2001, Oakland, California
• 9: Doweck, J., 2006. Intel Smart Memory Access: Minimizing Latency on Intel Core Microarchitecture. Technology Intel Magazine, Sept. 2006, 1--7.
• 10: Yi, Z. and Waskiewicz, P.J., 2007. Enabling Linux Network Support of Hardware Multiqueue Devices. Proc. of 2007 Linux Symposium, Ottawa, Canada, June 2007, 305--310.
• 11: Oprofile, http://oprofile.sourceforge.net/.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.6 Internetworking
          Subjects: Routers

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Measurement, Performance

Keywords:
linux networking, multi-layer support, open router