SYSTEM FOR FLEXIBLE AND EXTENSIBLE FLOW PROCESSING IN SOFTWARE-DEFINED NETWORKS

摘要

A system for flexible and extensible flow processing includes a first network device to act as a controller within a software-defined network. The first network device receives a processing definition, translates the processing definition to create a parser configuration package and transmit the parser configuration package to a plurality of forwarding elements, and transmit data to populate flow tables within the plurality of forwarding elements. The system also includes a second and third network device, each acting as a flow switching enabled forwarding element and able to receive a parser configuration package from the first network device. The second network device compiles the parser configuration package into machine code, which is executed on a processor to perform packet processing. The third network device includes a co- processor to execute the parser configuration package to perform packet processing. The parser configuration package includes representations of header, table definition, and stack instructions.