Designing Fast and Programmable Routers

Explore the latest advancements in programmable line-rate routers in this Systems & Networks Seminar by Anirudh Sivaraman from NYU. Delve into three innovative router primitives that enable high-performance programmability: a programmable packet scheduler, a method for programming stateful packet-processing algorithms, and a design for measuring programmer-defined statistics on a per-flow basis. Discover how these primitives allow for the implementation of various packet-processing functions at line rate, including in-network congestion control, active queue management, data-plane load balancing, network measurement, and packet scheduling. Gain insights into the evolution of network routers, the importance of programmability in modern network operations, and the challenges of combining performance with flexibility in router design. Learn about the fixed-function router pipeline, the programmable atom pipeline, the Domino compiler, and the design of instruction sets for both stateless and stateful cases. Understand the concept of Push-In First-Out Queue (PIFO) and its implementation in hardware for programmable scheduling. This comprehensive seminar covers the latest research in router design, offering valuable knowledge for network engineers, researchers, and professionals interested in the future of network infrastructure.