1. Co-Processors and the Role of Specialized Hardware Sundar Iyer, Senior Systems Architect, SwitchOn Networks. (sundar@switchon-net.com) May 9, 2000

2. Sundar Iyer Co-Processors and the Role of Specialized Hardware 2 Typical Network Equipment & Applications CPU Memory NP Line Interface ForwardingForwarding NATNAT Enterprise FunctionsEnterprise Functions Load BalancingLoad Balancing URL SwitchingURL Switching NP Network Processor Switch Interface Line Interface

3. Sundar Iyer Co-Processors and the Role of Specialized Hardware 3 Application Performance at OC48 OC4 8 Content processing is the bottleneck!

4. Sundar Iyer Co-Processors and the Role of Specialized Hardware 4 The Case for Co-Processors CPU Memory NP Line Interfa ce Network Processor Switch Interface Wire speed Wire speed ForwardingForwarding NATNAT Enterprise FunctionsEnterprise Functions Load BalancingLoad Balancing URL SwitchingURL Switching Co-Processor Line Interface

5. Sundar Iyer Co-Processors and the Role of Specialized Hardware 5 Content Processing = Extraction + Classification Layer 7 L2 L3 L4 URL, Cookies, Content, Application, User-name, Source MAC address is authenticated Packet is being sent from marketing network VP Marketing is accessing an external web server Server : yahoo.com identified File Type:.mp3, access to audio file identified File Name: American_Pie.mp3 It’s 7.00 PM. Easier Tougher Allow the session? – Yes.

6. Sundar Iyer Co-Processors and the Role of Specialized Hardware 6 Why is Layer 7 Processing Tougher ? Rules Lookup Complexity

7. Sundar Iyer Co-Processors and the Role of Specialized Hardware 7 Requirements of a Content Processor Rule Complexity Rule Complexity DimensionDimension NumberNumber OperationsOperations PrecedencePrecedence Lookup Speed Lookup Speed Dynamic Update Dynamic Update Minimize CPU Bandwidth Interaction Minimize CPU Bandwidth Interaction Rule Scalability Rule Scalability Glueless Interface & Easy Software Integration Glueless Interface & Easy Software Integration

8. Sundar Iyer Co-Processors and the Role of Specialized Hardware 8 System Diagram MAC MMC SiTera C-Port Vitesse Intel Custom ClassiPI: Content Co- Processor SwitchOn SyncSRAM 32/64 bit 66/100Mhz Queue- mem Switch Interface