Patent · US Active

Generating configuration data and API for programming a forwarding element

US10516626B1 · kind B1 · utility

18Cited by
13References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 16, 2016
Grant dateDec 24, 2019
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 15, 2037

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L45/74
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a novel method for simultaneously generating (i) configuration data for configuring a forwarding element (FE) and (ii) application programming interfaces (APIs) for programming the configured FE (e.g., at run time). The method of some embodiments receives a description of the FE's data plane that specifies the packet processing logic of the FE and generates the configuration data based on the received description. The configuration data in some embodiments specifies which protocols (e.g., L2 protocols, L3 protocols, etc.) the FE supports and how the FE performs a set of functionalities to forward network traffic data for the supported protocols. The method of some embodiments also generates a set of APIs based on the received description of the data plane. The APIs can then be used by a run time application (e.g., a control plane software) to program the configured FE at a later time (e.g., at run time).

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.