The Open Dataplane (ODP) provides a platform-independent API and framework for packet processing applications. Especially, it enables applications to use the special packet processing capabilities of system-on-chips without being tied to a specific hardware implementation. This makes ODP a key ingredient in the OPNFV projects that are focusing on Dataplane Acceleration (DPACC) and OPNFV on ARM. This talk will introduce the Open Dataplane project with examples, and why it is important in Network Function Virtualization use cases.

1. 1 © Nokia Solutions and Networks 2015
Platform Independent
Packet Processing with
ODP
Tapio Tallgren
Public

2. 2 © Nokia Solutions and Networks 2015
Open Source Code
• Code available at
git.linaro.org
• Permissive BSD license
• Pre-built Debian packages
A Supported Open
Source Project
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All meetings and mailing lists
are open
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Supported by >12 companies
Open API
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Documented at
www.opendataplane.org/ap-
documentation
• Proposed API changes are in
a separate branch
Public
What is OpenDataPlane?

3. 3 © Nokia Solutions and Networks 2015
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Supports system-on-chips
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Supports standard high-
volume servers
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Provides common
abstractions for data plane
applications
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Vendors can have their own
ODP library implementations
Public
ODP is data plane optimized

4. 4 © Nokia Solutions and Networks 2015
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ARM, MIPS, PPC, x86,...
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Makes best use of the hardware capabilities of the
different platforms
Public
ODP is hardware independent

5. 5 © Nokia Solutions and Networks 2015
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Some Network Functions
– Run natively: PNFs
– Some in a cloud: VNFs
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VNFs thrive on standard IT servers
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PNFs need to be power and cost optimized
Public
ODP value for an equipment vendor: hardware independence

6. 6 © Nokia Solutions and Networks 2015
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Allows fast user space packet processing without kernel
involvement
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Out-of-tree open source Linux implementation
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Mainly developed for extremely fast traffic generators,
virtual switches etc
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http://info.iet.unipi.it/~luigi/netmap/
Public
Netmap

7. 7 © Nokia Solutions and Networks 2015
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ODP implemented on netmap
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odp_pktio_send function uses
send_pkt_netmap...
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See picture
Public
ODP-netmap

8. 8 © Nokia Solutions and Networks 2015
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L2 forwarding test application
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ODP L2fwd, on ODP tests
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DPDK L2fwd on Native DPDK tests
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In practice the same functionality
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receive a batch of packets from one interface and send those out to the other interface
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Update Ethernet source address into the packet
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Min packet size: 64 byte frames
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DPDK application is a bit more optimized: collects packets into bursts on tx side
Public
Test setup

9. Results – ODP only
1 2
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
L2 forwarding packet rate
ODP-Socket (Niantic)
ODP-Netmap (Niantic)
ODP-DPDK (Niantic)
ODP-DPDK (Fortville)
Number of cores and 10GE ports
Packetrate(Mpps)