PLUG: flexible lookup modules for rapid deployment of new protocols in high-speed routers

New protocols for the data link and network layer are being proposed to address limitations of current protocols in terms of scalability, security, and manageability. High-speed routers and switches that implement these protocols traditionally perform packet processing using ASICs which offer high speed, low chip area, and low power. But with inflexible custom hardware, the deployment of new protocols could happen only through equipment upgrades. While newer routers use more flexible network processors for data plane processing, due to power and area constraints lookups in forwarding tables are done with custom lookup modules. Thus most of the proposed protocols can only be deployed with equipment upgrades. To speed up the deployment of new protocols, we propose a flexible lookup module, PLUG (Pipelined Lookup Grid). We can achieve generality without loosing efficiency because various custom lookup modules have the same fundamental features we retain: area dominated by memories, s...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: SIGCOMM
• Authors: Lorenzo De Carli, Yi Pan, Amit Kumar, Cristian Estan, Karthikeyan Sankaralingam
• Keywords: Communications, Custom Lookup Modules, Equipment Upgrades, Lookup Modules, SIGCOMM 2009