Bidirectional Range Extension for TCAM-Based Packet Classification

Abstract. Packet classification is a fundamental task for network devices such as edge routers, firewalls, and intrusion detection systems. Currently, most vendors use Ternary Content Addressable Memories (TCAMs) to achieve high-performance packet classification. TCAMs use parallel hardware to check all rules simultaneously. Despite their high speed, TCAMs have a problem in dealing with ranges efficiently. Many packet classification rules contain range specifications, each of which needs to be translated into multiple prefixes to store in a TCAM. Such translation may result in an exponential increase in the number of required TCAM entries. In this paper, we propose a bidirectional range extension algorithm to solve this problem. The proposed algorithm uses at most two TCAM entries to represent a range, and can be pipelined to deal with multiple range fields in a packet header. Since this algorithm assumes a non-redundant rule set, i.e., no range overlap between different rules, which c...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2010
• Where: NETWORKING
• Authors: Yan Sun, Min Sik Kim
• Keywords: Computer Networks, NETWORKING 2010, Packet Classification, Range Extension Algorithm, TCAM Entries