Sequence Abstractions for Flexible, Line-Rate Network Monitoring

Explore a conference talk from NSDI '24 that introduces FLM, a high-level language designed for network operators to create programs recognizing and responding to specific packet sequences. Delve into the development of this innovative tool that enables examination of every packet by transforming FLM programs into P4 code compatible with programmable switch ASICs. Learn about the compilation process, which separates state management from classical regular expressions and utilizes SMT-based program synthesis for efficient implementation. Discover how FLM successfully expresses 15 sequence monitoring tasks from prior literature, and how the compiler converts these programs to run on switch hardware within available pipeline stages while consuming minimal additional resources. Gain insights into the potential of FLM for flexible, line-rate network monitoring and its implications for network operations and management.