Bringing Packet Queueing to XDP

Join Red Hat Research for the next Research Days event, “Bringing Packet Queueing to XDP” on June 30, 2022 from 2PM to 3:30PM CEST (8AM EDT, 3PM IDT).  

Have you ever wanted to know how to make the network layer work for you?  The Linux eXpress Data Path, XDP, provides a high-performance programmable network data path using Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) technology.  This talk will introduce networking research and development progressing in cooperation with Karlstad University, Sweden. Frey Alfredsson, PhD student, Karlstad University, will talk about his research introducing an extension to the widely-used XDP that addresses its current shortcomings, allowing users to better define their packet schedulers, while still reaping the benefits of XDP fast data path. Toke Høiland-Jørgensen, Principal Software Engineer, Red Hat, will lead the conversation.  Attendees are encouraged to participate in the discussion.

Abstract
The Linux eXpress Data Path, or XDP, has found numerous uses in the industry, such as DoS attack mitigation, load-balancers, and intrusion prevention systems. XDP provides a high-performance programmable network data path using the BPF framework and allows programmers to process packets early out of the driver. While XDP excels in forwarding packets, it currently has no mechanism for queueing or reordering packets and cannot implement traffic scheduling policies. This talk presents our ongoing work to address this challenge. We have designed a programmable packet scheduling extension for the XDP framework using recently proposed schemes for programmable queues. This extension allows programmers to define their packet schedulers using BPF while benefiting from the XDP fast data path.

Speaker
Frey Alfredsson, PhD student, Department of Computer Science, Karlstad University

Conversation Leader
Toke Høiland-Jørgensen, Principal Engineer, Red Hat