Dataplane: P4 targets
- BMv2
BMv2 is the open source P4 switch developed and maintained by the P4Lang p4.org group. It can be downloaded here. It uses the V1Model P4 Switch Architecture depicted below:
- TOFINO target
Similar to BMv2, TOFINO uses the PSA - Portable Switch Architecture. However, while BMv2 is a P4 virtual software switch TOFINO (and his older brother TOFINO 2) is a network processor able to switch packet at tremendous line rate.
...
Porting RARE on FPGA is an on-going effort, this target is perfect for enabling RARE/FreeRouter on FPGA card that are produced massively and thus present a very interesting TCO.
- DPDK target
P4 hardware target like TOFINO enable LSR/LER use cases. But in certain context, acquiring P4 hardware for SOHO use cases (primary/secondary schools, small R&E instituions) is financially not possible. In that context, we propose a solution that leverage existing kernel bypass machanism such as DPDK. The resulting work is the creation of p4dpdk which is inherently an emulation of RARE software running on P4 target but written entirely from scratch in C code.
...