1. G-Number 1 Forwarding and Control Element Separation (ForCES) Overview & Requirements Update Todd A. Anderson

2. G-Number 2 IP Forwarding & Control Separation Standardize the interaction between IP control (slow path) and forwarding (fast path) elements Control Element CPU & memory intensive protocols and algorithms CPU & memory intensive protocols and algorithms Slow timescale – many packets/operation Slow timescale – many packets/operation Forwarding Elements Throughput oriented Throughput oriented Fast timescale – packet-by-packet operations Fast timescale – packet-by-packet operations Provide a variety of Provide a variety offunctionality (Distributed) Network Element ForCES CONTROL ELEMENT (Routing Protocols, Admission Control, Mgmt Agents, etc.) FORWARDING ELEMENT (ASIC, NP, etc.) FORWARDING ELEMENT (ASIC, NP, etc.) FORWARDING ELEMENTS (ASIC, NP, etc.)

3. G-Number 3 Why do it? Rapid innovation – by allowing the control and forwarding planes to evolve independently. Rapid innovation – by allowing the control and forwarding planes to evolve independently. Building blocks approach – by allowing network elements to be built from emerging network processors and third-party signaling, routing, and other software. Building blocks approach – by allowing network elements to be built from emerging network processors and third-party signaling, routing, and other software. Scalability – by allowing additional forwarding capacity to be added to a network element w/o the addition of another point of management. Scalability – by allowing additional forwarding capacity to be added to a network element w/o the addition of another point of management.

4. G-Number 4 Network Element Architectural Overview Forwarding Element 1 Forwarding Element 2 Control Element Which CE controls me? Which FEs do I control? Which CE controls me? 1. Variety of interconnects REQUIREMENTS 2. Auto-membership & topology discovery 3. Inter-FE forwarding 4. Single “box” 5. Scalable: 1-10s of FEs 6. CE-FE protocol Interconnect

5. G-Number 5 Network Element Modeling Overview CE Interconnect FE ?? ? … ? Given: FEs have a variety of functionality Problem: How does the CE control the FE if it doesn’t know what it can do? Requirement: Define a functional model by which FEs can describe their functionality

6. G-Number 6 Network Element Protocol Overview CE Interconnect FE 1. Port configuration REQUIREMENTS 2. Filter installation 1a. Packet redirection 3. Forward table install 4. QoS configuration 5. Secure communication 6. Event notification 7. Statistics gathering IngressFilter Egress Forwarder

7. G-Number 7 Mailing List/Web site Mailing list: forces@peach.ease.lsoft.com forces@peach.ease.lsoft.com forces@peach.ease.lsoft.com To subscribe: listserv@peach.ease.lsoft.com To subscribe: listserv@peach.ease.lsoft.comlistserv@peach.ease.lsoft.com –In body of message “subscribe forces ” Web site http://www.sstanamera.com/~forces http://www.sstanamera.com/~forces http://www.sstanamera.com/~forces Drafts draft-anderson-forces-req-01.txt draft-anderson-forces-req-01.txt