NAT: Optionally, NAT 44 is performed to convert private addresses to public addresses.
Metering Policing: The DPDK Traffic Metering and Policing API is used to apply a two-rate, three-color marking and policing scheme to the traffic.ĭSCP Rewrite: This stage supports the optional classification of the traffic type and rewrite of the IP differentiated services code point (DSCP) field to map the stream to a network supported class of service (CoS). These comprise permit and deny filters, and all filters are evaluated per packet.įlow Classification: The DPDK Flow Classification Library is used to identify the session and classify the packet based on selected fields (e.g., 5 tuple).
Packet Rx (Receive): The data plane development kit (DPDK) poll mode driver (PMD) is used to receive bursts of frames from the network interface controller (NIC) port and send them directly into an uplink thread to begin vBNG packet processing, described in the next stages.Īccess Control Lists: The DPDK Access Control List (ACL) library is used to apply an ordered list of filters (e.g., masks, ranges, etc.) to the frame. The Intel reference pipeline implements the upstream processing stages shown in Figure 3 and described in the following: In recent years, data and content creation has reduced the gap between upstream and downstream bandwidth usage. While applications like Instagram, Snapchat, and Periscope, have seen larger swathes of data being pushed onto the ISP network by users, broadband users are still overwhelmingly net consumers of data. The average packet size for upstream traffic is generally smaller than for downstream traffic, and the amount of upstream traffic is normally five to eight times less than downstream traffic. The upstream data plane manages the flow of traffic from users’ home routers to the ISP network. The control plane is responsible for subscriber authentication and management, including monthly usage service access and data plane configuration, based on subscriber profiles. To complement the shift of the Broadband data plane into a virtual ecosystem, this paper also puts forward a deployment architecture using the container orchestration engine Kubernetes (K8s).Įach generation of Intel technologies (e.g., CPU, NIC, SSD, FPGAs, and accelerators) brings new opportunities to improve performance and quality of experience (QoE) for users. This paper describes this effort and proposes a vBNG architecture for building network infrastructure and network functions to better take advantage of the underlying infrastructure and address the challenge of the data CAGR. Deploying using Cloud Native Networking Fundamentalsįollowing these principles, Intel has demonstrated nearly 661 Gbps 2 of routing RFC2544 (zero packet loss) performance for a virtual broadband network gateway (vBNG) running on a single 3rd Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor server.Hierarchical quality of service considerations.Independent scaling of the control and user planes.Intelligent I/O packet and flow distribution.This paper proposes the following set of design principles for taking solutions based on Intel® architecture processors and network functions virtualization (NFV) to the next level of performance and network automation by utilizing the following: Pushing the boundary of performance requires the latest and greatest technology along with deploying this technology in a holistic and easy-to-use way. With customer data traffic estimated to grow at a 26 percent rate (year over year) from 2017 to 2023, 1 future networking solutions must show a path to solving tomorrow’s data compound-annual-growthrate (CAGR) challenge in a cost-effective and scalable way. In addition, communications service providers (CoSPs) need to support multiple access technology types (xDSL, PON, FWA, and DOCSIS) while making better use of existing fiber networks and increasing service delivery performance, all against a backdrop of declining revenues. The ever-growing consumer demand for more bandwidth and services for less money has been driving service provider networks to their economic limit for some years now.