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A Search Memory Substrate for High Throughput and Low Power Packet Processing Sangyeun Cho, Michel Hanna and Rami Melhem Dept. of Computer Science University.

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Presentation on theme: "A Search Memory Substrate for High Throughput and Low Power Packet Processing Sangyeun Cho, Michel Hanna and Rami Melhem Dept. of Computer Science University."— Presentation transcript:

1 A Search Memory Substrate for High Throughput and Low Power Packet Processing Sangyeun Cho, Michel Hanna and Rami Melhem Dept. of Computer Science University of Pittsburgh

2 Background ISP Internet Subnet ISP end user router end user

3 Network packet processing tasks  Packet forwarding Given an IP address Look up in a table (IP table) a matching prefix Make sure the chosen prefix is longest  LPM (Longest Prefix Matching) requirement  Rule-based packet filtering Given a set of packet fields (src/dst IP, src/dst port, protocol, …) Look up in a rule database matching entries  Deep packet inspection Given a string in packet payload Look up in a signature database matching entries

4 Lookup performance scalability  Lookup performance must match increasing line speeds For OC-768, up to 104M packets must be processed per second Network traffic has doubled every year [McKeown03] Router capacity doubles every 18 months  Capacity pressure Routing tables (~200K prefixes in a core router) are growing [RIS] # of firewall rules increases; 100K rules are practical [Baboescu04] IPv6  Power and thermal issues already a critical limiting factor in network processing device design [McKeown03]  Two conventional lookup solutions Software methods (tries, hash table, …) Hardware methods (TCAM, Bloom filter, …)

5 IP lookup using a trie  Consider an IP address: 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0  “flexibility”  high memory capacity requirement  low memory bandwidth utilization  not SCALABLE

6 IP lookup using TCAM  Consider an IP address: 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 110100* 110101* 110111* 01000* 01100* 01101* 11011* 0100* 0110* 1101* 10* 0* sort before storing choose the first among the matched  high bandwidth, constant time lookup  TCAMs are relatively small, expensive  power consumption very high  not SCALABLE

7 Recap: Why is TCAM inefficient?  all bits are involved in matching  large embedded match logic  “large” means more work in this case

8 CA-RAM–a hybrid approach  Can we do better than the existing schemes? Flexibility and search performance Exploit optimized RAM designs Hardware approach (software too slow)  CA-RAM combines hashing w/ hardware parallel matching  CA-RAM design goals High lookup performance Low power consumption Smaller chip area per stored datum Straightforward system-level integration

9 CA-RAM–Content Addressable RAM  Separate match logic and memory  Match logic for a single row, not every row  Allows the use of dense RAM technology  Enables highly reconfigurable match logic  (Keep keys sorted in each row, not in entire array) Match logic Memory cells Conventional CAM/TCAMCA-RAM

10 Very simple, yet efficient  Use hashing to store keys in a particular row  To look up, hash the key and retrieve one row  Perform matching on entire row in parallel  Achieve (full) content addressability w/o paying overhead! Index generator Key i1 Match processor 1 … … Key i2 Key j2 Key j1 Match processor 2 … key

11 Pipelined CA-RAM operation Index generatorSearch key Key i1 Match processor 1 Key i2 Key j2 Key j1 Match processor 2 ResultMatch processor 3 Key i3 Key j3 Step 1Step 2Step 3Step 4 Index Key j2 Key j1 Key j3 Search keyMatch processor 2 Index generationMemory access Key matching Result forwarding

12 Dealing w/ bucket overflows  Careful design of hash function  Increase bucket size Reduce load factor (  );  = # of occupied entries / # of total entries Trade-off space for performance  Use “chaining”; store overflows in subsequent rows Multiple accesses per lookup  Use a small overflow CAM, accessed in parallel Similar to popular “victim caching” in computer architecture  Use two-level hashing and employ multiple CA-RAM banks … …

13 CA-RAM reconfig. opportunities Reconfigurable match logic allows:  Adapting key size to apps Same hardware to support multiple apps or standards … …

14 Adapting key size Key i1 Reconfigurable match logic Key i2 Key j2 Key j1 Key i3 Key j3 Match information Key i1 Key i2 Key j2 Key j1  Adapting key size is straightforward  Will benefit supporting multiple apps/ standards Select key bits for matching

15 CA-RAM reconfig. opportunities Reconfigurable match logic allows:  Adapting key size to apps Same hardware to support multiple apps or standards  Binary and ternary matching Some apps require ternary matching, some don’t … …

16 Supporting binary/ternary matching Reconfigurable match logic Match information Key i1 Key i2 Key j2 Key j1 Search key Mask j1 Mask i1  Developed configurable comparator  T-matching requires 2 bits / 1 symbol  Supporting different types of matching in different bit positions feasible Consider mask bits or not

17 CA-RAM reconfig. opportunities Reconfigurable match logic allows:  Adapting key size to apps Same hardware to support multiple apps or standards  Binary and ternary matching Some apps require ternary matching, some don’t  Storing data and keys in a CA-RAM module Cuts # of memory accesses for IP lookup by half … …

18 Simult. key matching & data access Reconfigurable match logic Match information Key i1 Key i2 Key j2 Key j1 Search key Data j1 Data i1  Data access follows TCAM lookup  CA-RAM supports data embedding  Cuts memory traffic & latency by half Match information & Data Match key & bypass data

19 CA-RAM reconfig. opportunities Reconfigurable match logic allows:  Adapting key size to apps Same hardware to support multiple apps or standards  Binary and ternary matching Some apps require ternary matching, some don’t  Storing data and keys in a CA-RAM module Cuts # of memory accesses for IP lookup by half  Providing range checking capabilities Beneficial for rule-based packet filtering … …

20 Supporting range checking Reconfigurable match logic Match information Key i1 Range i1 Range j1 Key j1 Search key  (Range checking causes troubles)  (Entries must be expanded)  CA-RAM can upport range checking efficiently Match key & check range

21 Evaluation  We implemented a CA-RAM design (w/ reconfigurability) and evaluated its power and area advantages over state-of-the-art TCAMs  We experimented with real routing tables to estimate the load factor and the average memory accesses per lookup

22 Mapping a large IP routing table Consider multiple design points: Design B Design A Design D Design C Design E Design F 2,048 rows  (32 entries) 4,096 rows  (64 entries) (  = 0.47) (  = 0.40) (  = 0.36) (  = 0.24) (  = 0.36)

23 Mapping a large IP routing table Spilled entries Average memory access latency (  = 0.47)(  = 0.40)(  = 0.36) (  = 0.24)(  = 0.36) “Uniform” traffic “Skewed” traffic  With a properly chosen ,  CA-RAM achieves near-constant AMAL

24 Comparing CA-RAM and TCAM Per Cell Area (um 2 ) @130nm 4.5x 11x 4.5Mb Power (W) @143MHz 14x 4x Cell area (  m 2 ) @130nm CMOS Power (W) 4.5Mb @143MHz  CA-RAM area advantage 4.5x~11x  CA-RAM power advantage 4x~14x

25 Conclusions  Compared w/ software methods Less # of memory accesses; higher lookup performance  Compared w/ TCAM Higher density matching that of DRAM  large lookup table Exceeds the speed of TCAM Low power – a critical advantage for cost-effective system design  Reconfigurability Can accommodate apps having different key/record sizes, binary vs. ternary searching requirements, range checking, … Can adopt new standards much more easily, e.g., IPv6

26 Mapping a large IP routing table  CA-RAM advantageous over TCAM Design B

27 CA-RAM components Index generator Result Bus Key i1 Match processor 1 … … … Key i2 Key j2 Key j1 Match processorsMatch processor 2 C bits 2 R rows N bits


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