Router Project with NETFPGA

By Ali Farahany

1

Router Layer : Software Based

Router Layer: Hardware Based

Difficult to develop, always behind industry

Difficult to program, constrained environment

Too expensive

Long TTM

…

Custom Hardware

Software Router

PC

+Multi-Port NIC

Total capacity: Only ~10Gb/s

Software Base: Easy to develop

Limited Capacity

Not Scalable

Easy to Upgrade

…

SDN and Open Flow Concepts

Implementation

Traditional Computer Networks

Track topology changes, compute

routes, install forwarding rules

Control plane:

Distributed algorithms

Traditional Computer Networks

Collect measurements and configure

the equipment

Management plane:

Human time scale

Software Defined Networking (SDN)

API to the data plane

(e.g., OpenFlow)

Logically-centralized control

Smart,

slow

NetFPGA as OPENFLOW SWITCH

FGPA Modules 1

Softw

areH

ardw

are

Linux user-levelprocesses

Verilog on NetFPGA PCI board

Linux Processes

FGPA Modules 2

Example: An IP Router on NetFPGA

SwitchingEngine

ForwardingEngine

RoutingTable

SwitchingTable

Management& CLI & API

Softw

areH

ardw

are

Linux user-levelprocesses

Verilog on NetFPGA PCI board

ExceptionProcessing

ForwardingTable

FPGA

Memory

10GE

10GE

10GE

10GE

PLAN1NetFPGA board on PC

PCIe

CPU Memory

PC with NetFPGA

Networking

Software

running on a

standard PC

A hardware

accelerator

built with a Field

Programmable

Gate Array

driving 10 Gigabit

network links

FPGA

Memory

10GE

10GE

10GE

10GE

FPGA

Memory

10GE

10GE

10GE

10GE

FPGA

Memory

10GE

10GE

10GE

10GE

FPGA

Memory

10GE

10GE

10GE

10GE

FPGA

Memory

10GE

10GE

10GE

10GE

PLAN2:NetFPGA CHASSI

Backplane

CPU Memory

ATCA CHASSI with NetFPGA

Networking

Software

running on a

blade PC

A customized

hardware

accelerator

built with a Field

Programmable

Gate Array

driving 10 Gigabit

network links

µTCA subrack

µTCA shelf

ATCA shelf

Link between switches facilitates coordination, fail-over

Redundant switchesincrease system availability, eliminates single point of failure

Nodes support redundant links, one to each switch

Number of routed channelsTwo dedicated

system slots for switching resources

ATCA Backplane – Fabric topologies – Dual Star

Data throughput capacity scales with each added node board, large capacities possible

Fabric links are inherently redundant, highly available

All system slots are identical. No dedicated hub slots. All slots are hub capable

Switching services and managment are distributed across all system slots

ATCA Backplane – Fabric topologies – Mesh

17

ATCA Blades Promise of Mix-n-match

CPU Blade

NetFPGA Blades

Enables “one-blade” applications

Core of the NETFPGA Routerarchitecture

Diagram courtesy PICMG