Apparatus and method for configuring data plane behavior on network forwarding elements

• US 20040131079A1
• Filed: 01/07/2003
• Published: 07/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Khosravi, Hormuzd M., Fenger, Russell J., Liu, Hsin-Yuo, Kulkarni, Amol, Hegde, Shriharsha S., Deval, Manasi
• Granted Patent: US 7,646,759 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/50 using label swapping, e.g. multi-protocol label switch [MPLS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields

Abstract

A method and apparatus for configuring data plane behavior on network forwarding elements are described. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving, within a network element control plane, protocol configuration information extracted from a protocol application utilizing a network protocol application programming interface (API). Once the protocol configuration information is received, the protocol configuration information is processed using a control interface corresponding to the network protocol implemented by the protocol application. Once the protocol configuration information is processed, the control interface programs one or more data plane forwarding elements of the network element according to protocol configuration information. Accordingly, by providing similar control interfaces for multiple, network protocols, inter-operability between components from multiple vendors is enabled.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, within a network element control plane, protocol configuration information extracted from a protocol application utilizing a network protocol application programming interface (API);

processing the received protocol configuration information using a control interface corresponding to a network protocol specified by the received protocol configuration information; and

configuring, by the control interface, one or more data plane forwarding elements of the network element according to the received protocol configuration information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the received protocol configuration information further comprising:

selecting a forwarding element within the data plane to implement the network protocol specified by the protocol configuration information;

determining one or more interface-specific tables to form within the selected forwarding element according to the protocol configuration information; and

determining one or more entries within the interface-specific tables such that a forwarding element containing the interface-specific tables determines decisions according to entries within the interface-specific tables.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the one or more data plane forwarding elements further comprises:

registering the network protocol specified by the protocol configuration information with the data plane to enable receipt of events from the data plane;

selecting a forwarding element from one or more forwarding elements of a network element data plane;

querying the selected forwarding element for one or more interface-specific tables within the selected forwarding element according to the protocol configuration information; and

generating and populating one or more entries within the interface-specific tables of the selected forwarding element in order to control data plane behavior when processing packets corresponding to the network protocol implemented by the protocol application.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating further comprises:

querying the selected forwarding element to determine the generated interface-specific tables; and

populating the generated interface-specific tables according to the received protocol configuration information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the data plane elements further comprises:

registering the network protocol with the network element data plane to enable receipt of events from the data plane during boot-up;

selecting a forwarding element within the data plane of the network element to implement an IPv4 routing protocol according to the received protocol configuration information;

querying the selected forwarding element for a forwarding table generated within the selected forwarding element during boot-up;

querying the selected forwarding element for an address resolution table generated within the selected forwarding element during boot-up;

adding/deleting IPv4 routing entries within the forwarding table when a protocol application route update request is received; and

adding/deleting IPv4 entries in the address resolution table when a protocol application address resolution table update request is received.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the one or more data plane forwarding elements further comprises:

registering the network protocol with the data plane to enable receipt of events from the data plane during boot-up;

selecting a forwarding element of the network element data plane to implement an IPv6 routing protocol according to the received protocol configuration information;

querying the selected forwarding element for an IPv6 forwarding table generated within the selected forwarding element during boot-up;

querying the selected forwarding element for an IPv6 neighbor table generated within the selected forwarding element during boot-up;

adding/deleting IPv6 routing entries in the forwarding table when a protocol application route update request is received; and

adding/deleting IPv6 neighbor entries in the neighbor table when a protocol application neighbor table update request is received.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the one or more forwarding elements of the data plane further comprises:

generating an FTN table within a forwarding element selected for implementing an MPLS protocol during boot-up;

generating an ILM table within the selected forwarding element during boot-up;

generating an FTN DiffServ context table within the selected forwarding element during boot-up;

generating an ILM DiffServ context table within the selected forwarding element during boot-up;

adding/deleting MPLS FTN entries within the FTN table when a protocol application FTN table update request is received;

adding/deleting MPLS ILM entries within the ILM table when a protocol application ILM table update request is received;

adding/deleting MPLS E-LSP configuration entries in the FTN DiffServ context table when a protocol application MPLS E-LSP configuration update request is received; and

adding/deleting MPLS E-LSP pre-configuration entries in the ILM DiffServ context table when a protocol application MPLS E-LSP pre-configuration update request is received.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein configuring the one or more forwarding elements of the data plane further comprises:

generating a plurality of DiffServ tables within a forwarding element selected to implement a DiffServ network protocol during boot-up;

adding/deleting filter entries in a DiffServ classifier table generated within the selected forwarding element when a protocol application classifier update request is received;

adding/modifying/deleting meter entries within a DiffServ meter table generated within the selected forwarding element when a protocol application meter update request is received;

adding/modifying/deleting marker entries within a DiffServ marker table generated within the selected forwarding element when a protocol application marker update request is received;

adding/modifying/deleting dropper entries within a DiffServ algorithmic dropper table generated within the selected forwarding element when a protocol application dropper update request is received;

adding/modifying/deleting query entries within a DiffServ queue table generated within the selected forwarding element when a protocol application queue update request is received; and

adding/modifying/deleting scheduler entries within a DiffServ scheduler table generated within a selected forwarding element when a protocol application scheduler update request is received.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, within the data plane, a packet;

when an event is triggered, notifying a protocol application implementing a network protocol corresponding to the received packet;

otherwise, determining a forwarding element programmed with one or more interface-specific tables corresponding to a network protocol associated with the received packet;

when an event is triggered, notifying a protocol application implementing a network protocol corresponding to the received packet; and

otherwise, processing the received packet according to an interface-specific table entry generated by the control interface according to the protocol configuration information and associated with the received packet.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the network protocol API is one of a routing protocol API, a switching protocol API, and a quality-of-service (QoS) protocol API.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the routing protocol API is one of an IPv4 protocol and an IPv6 protocol.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the switching protocol API is an MPLS protocol API.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the QoS protocol API is a DiffServ protocol API.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the network protocol API comprises quality-of-service capabilities to enable associating packets of a particular traffic flow with a desired special handling.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the desired special handling comprises at least one of real-time service or non-default quality-of-service.

16. A computer readable storage medium including program instructions that direct a computer to perform a method when executed by a processor, the method comprising:

receiving, within a network element control plane, protocol configuration information extracted from a protocol application utilizing a network protocol application programming interface (API);

processing the received protocol configuration information using a control interface corresponding to a network protocol specified by the received protocol configuration information; and

configuring, by the control interface, one or more data plane forwarding elements of the network element according to the received protocol configuration information.

17. The computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein processing the received software further comprises:

selecting a forwarding element within the data plane to implement the network protocol specified by the protocol configuration information;

determining one or more interface-specific tables to form within the selected forwarding element according to the protocol configuration information; and

determining one or more entries within the interface-specific tables such that a forwarding element containing the interface-specific tables determines decisions according to entries within the interface-specific tables.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein configuring the one or more data plane forwarding elements further comprises:

registering the network protocol specified by the protocol configuration information with the data plane to enable receipt of events from the data plane during boot-up;

selecting a forwarding element from one or more forwarding elements of a network element data plane;

querying the selected forwarding element for one or-more interface-specific tables within the selected forwarding element according to the protocol configuration information; and

generating and populating one or more entries within the interface-specific tables of the selected forwarding element in order to control data plane behavior when processing packets corresponding to the network protocol implemented by the protocol application.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, within the data plane, a packet;

when an event is triggered, notifying a protocol application implementing a network protocol corresponding to the received packet;

otherwise, determining a forwarding element programmed with one or more interface-specific tables corresponding to a network protocol associated with the received packet;

when an event is triggered, notifying a protocol application implementing a network protocol corresponding to the received packet; and

otherwise, processing the received packet according to an interface-specific table entry generated by the control interface according to the protocol configuration information and associated with the received packet.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the network protocol API is one of a routing protocol API, a switching protocol API, and a quality-of-service (QoS) protocol API.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the routing protocol API is one of an IPv4 protocol and an IPv6 protocol.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the switching protocol API is an MPLS protocol API.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the QoS protocol API a DiffServ protocol API.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the network protocol API comprises quality-of-service capabilities to enable associating packets of a particular traffic flow with a desired special handling.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the desired special handling comprises at least one of real-time service or non-default quality of service.

26. A network element, comprising:

a data plane including one or more forwarding elements to process received packets according to a corresponding interface-specific table contained within a respective forwarding element;

a control plane coupled to the data plane via an interconnect link, the control plane including one or more protocol applications implementing network protocols utilizing a network protocol application programming interface (API); and

a control interface used to generate and configure the interface-specific tables contained within the data plane according to protocol configuration information extracted from the protocol applications of the control plane by a respective protocol API.

27. The network element of claim 26, wherein the control interface is further caused to select a forwarding element within the data plane to implement the network protocol specified by protocol configuration information;

determine one or more interface-specific tables to formed within the selected forwarding element according to extracted protocol configuration information; and

determine according to protocol configuration information, one or more entries within the interface-specific tables such that a forwarding element containing the interface-specific tables determines protocol decisions according to entries within the interface-specific tables.

28. The network element of claim 26, wherein the control interface is further caused to register the network protocol specified by the protocol configuration information with the data plane to enable receipt of events from the data plane during boot-up;

select a forwarding element from one or more forwarding elements of a network element data plane;

query the selected forwarding element for one or more interface-specific tables generated within the selected forwarding element during boot-up; and

generate and populate one or more entries within the interface-specific tables of the selected forwarding element according to extracted protocol configuration information.

29. The network element of claim 26, wherein the control interface is further caused to receive, within the data plane, a packet;

determine a forwarding element programmed with one or more interface-specific tables corresponding to a network protocol associated with the packet;

process the packet according to an interface-specific table entry generated by the control interface according to received protocol configuration information; and

when an event is triggered, notify the protocol application implementing a network protocol associated with the packet.

30. The network element of claim 26, wherein the interconnect link is one of a bus, a cable, an optical fiber, and an Ethernet link.

31. A system comprises:

a network including a plurality of coupled network elements, comprising;

a data plane including one or more forwarding elements to process received packets according to a corresponding interface-specific table contained within a respective forwarding element;

a control plane coupled to the data plane via an interconnect link, the control plane including one or more protocol applications implementing network protocols utilizing a network protocol application programming interface (API); and

a control interface used to generate and configure the interface-specific tables contained within the data plane according to protocol configuration information extracted from the protocol applications of the control plane by a respective protocol API.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the control interface is further caused to select a forwarding element within the data plane to implement the network protocol specified by protocol configuration information;

determine one or more interface-specific tables to formed within the selected forwarding element according to extracted protocol configuration information; and

determine according to protocol configuration information, one or more entries within the interface-specific tables such that a forwarding element containing the interface-specific tables determines protocol decisions according to entries within the interface-specific tables.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the control interface is further caused to register the network protocol specified by the protocol configuration information with the data plane to enable receipt of events from the data plane during boot-up;

select a forwarding element from one or more forwarding elements of a network element data plane;

query the selected forwarding element for one or more interface-specific tables generated within the selected forwarding element during boot-up; and

generate and populate one or more entries within the interface-specific tables of the selected forwarding element according to extracted protocol configuration information.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the control interface is further caused to receive, within the data plane, a packet;

determine a forwarding element programmed with one or more interface-specific tables corresponding to a network protocol associated with the packet;

process the packet according to an interface-specific table entry generated by the control interface according to received protocol configuration information; and

when an event is triggered, notify the protocol application implementing a network protocol associated with the packet.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein the interconnect link is one of a bus, a cable, an optical fiber and an Ethernet link.