STATIC TRANSLATION OF NETWORK FORWARDING PLANE MODELS INTO TARGET IMPLEMENTATION IN THE HARDWARE ABSTRACTION LAYER

• US 20140241347A1
• Filed: 02/25/2013
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: YADAV, Navindra, COHN, Daniel Todd
• Application Number:
  US13/776,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20140241347A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/56 Routing software

Abstract

A routing controller in a communication network may be responsible for generating a device model that defines intended forwarding behavior of the network. The device model may be generated using a target-independent universal language of network primitives. The controller may send the device model to a target device. The device controller may include one or more known identifiers associated with one or more portions of the model. The target device may know the mapping between the known identifiers and the capabilities of the target device. Upon receiving the device model from the controller, the target device may retrieve the known mapping to statically translate the device model to implementation. The static translation of the device model provides reusability of the previously determined mappings. The target device is not required to have a translator for dynamically translating the device model each time that the device model is received from the controller.

Claims

1. A non-transitory electronic device readable storage medium holding instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to:

receive a device model described in a target-independent format, wherein;

the device model describes an intended forwarding behavior for a target device, and

the device model includes one or more known identifiers associated with one or more portions of the device model;

retrieve a mapping that maps the one or more known identifiers of the device model to implementation of one or more capabilities of a target device having a forwarding or switching capability; and

configure the target device by statically mapping the intended forwarding behavior described in the device model to the implementation of the one or more capabilities of the target device using the retrieved mapping.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein the static mapping occurs in a hardware abstraction layer (HAL) implemented in the target device.

3. The medium of claim 1, wherein the mapping is used for subsequent implementations of the one or more identifiers on the target device.

4. The medium of claim 1, wherein the mapping is stored at a storage device.

5. The medium of claim 4, wherein the storage device stores additional mappings.

6. The medium of claim 4, wherein one or more mappings can be added to the storage device.

7. The medium of claim 1, wherein the mapping is retrieved among a plurality of mappings.

8. The medium of claim 1, further storing instructions for:

determining a forwarding scheme for forwarding one or more input packets in the network based on the device model.

9. The medium of claim 1, further storing instructions for:

receiving one or more input packets;

forwarding the one or more input packets to one or more elements of the network based on the mapping.

10. The medium of claim 1, wherein the target-independent format comprises a universal language formed of one or more network primitives.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a device model described in a target-independent format, wherein the device model describes an intended forwarding behavior for a target device;

retrieving a mapping that maps one or more elements of the device model to implementation of one or more capabilities of the target device having a forwarding or switching capability;

configuring the target device by statically mapping the intended forwarding behavior described in the device model to the implementation of the one or more capabilities of the target device using the retrieved mapping;

receiving one or more input packets; and

forwarding the one or more input packets to one or more elements of the network based on the configuring.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the static mapping occurs in a hardware abstraction layer (HAL) implemented in the target device.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the mapping is used for subsequent implementations of one or more portions of the device model on the target device.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the mapping is stored at a storage device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein one or more a mappings can be added to the storage device.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the mapping is retrieved among a plurality of mappings.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining a forwarding scheme for forwarding the one or more input packets in the network based on the device model.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the target-independent format comprises a universal language formed of one or more network primitives.

19. A system comprising:

a routing controller for generating a device model described in a target-independent format;

a target device for receiving the device model, wherein;

the device model describes an intended forwarding behavior for the target device,

the target device has a forwarding or switching capability; and

a storage for storing one or more mappings that map one or more portions of the device model to implementation of one or more capabilities of the target device,

wherein the target device is configured to retrieve one or more mappings from the storage for statically mapping the intended forwarding behavior described in the device model to the implementation of the one or more capabilities of the target device using the retrieved mapping.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the device model includes one or more known identifiers associated with the one or more portions of the device model.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein the target device is configured to:

receive one or more input packets, and

forward the one or more input packets to one or more elements of the network based on the retrieved mapping.