OpenBNG: Central office network functions on programmable data plane hardware

Abstract

SummaryTelecommunication providers continuously evolve their network infrastructure by increasing performance, lowering time to market, providing new services, and reducing the cost of the infrastructure and its operation. Network function virtualization (NFV) on commodity hardware offers an attractive, low‐cost platform to establish innovations much faster than with purpose‐built hardware products. Unfortunately, implementing NFV on commodity processors does not match the performance requirements of the high‐throughput data plane components in large carrier access networks. Therefore, programmable hardware architectures like field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), network processors, and switch silicon supporting the flexibility of the P4 language offer a promising way to account for both performance requirements and the demand to quickly introduce innovations into networks. In this article, we propose a way to offer residential network access with programmable packet processing architectures. On the basis of the highly flexible P4 programming language, we present a design and open source implementation of a broadband network gateway (BNG) data plane that meets the challenging demands of BNGs in carrier‐grade environments. In addition, we introduce a concept of hybrid openBNG design, realizing the required hierarchical quality of service (HQoS) functionality in a subsequent FPGA. The proposed evaluation results show the desired performance characteristics, and our proposed design together with upcoming P4 hardware can offer a giant leap towards highest performance NFV network access.

Network Testing Utilizing Programmable Network Hardware

“…Functional and performance testing is conducted in four phases of the innovation cycle of networking hardware as depicted in Figure 1. In the research and development phase (1), it is required to measure and understand existing networking hardware's behavior in detail and perform experiments with new prototypical hardware. Considering the previously mentioned performance requirements, these experiments must be performed with very high accuracy and at the same time at maximal load.…”

“…Some network functions can be subject to regulatory requirements, which need to be thoroughly tested. For instance, a broadband network gateway in Telco access networks must fulfill a certain QoS level regarding packet loss and counting accuracy [1]. In this work, we will focus on the example of switches in 5G fronthaul networks as Device Under Test (DUT), connecting radio units with base-band units.…”

User Plane Hardware Acceleration in Access Networks: Experiences in Offloading Network Functions in Real 5G Deployments

“…Hybrid Solutions: Combinations of FPGAs and P4 switches have been discussed in literature before. The work "OpenBNG" [19] combined an FPGA and P4 switch to realize a Broadband Network Gateway with FPGA-assisted QoS support. Katta et al [20] proposed the idea of combining a software network function and a hardware switch to combine the benefits of both.…”

Application Layer Packet Processing Using PISA Switches

“…Although there are several studies developing and using programmable hardware [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ], the early use of programmable hardware is to make telemetry data easy to use. Telemetry data are crucial for an automated future but generating telemetry data is not a trivial task.…”