P4 is gaining industry momentum. New language features allow describing more forwarding devices, not only programmable ones but also fixed-function conventional ones. P4Runtime was introduced as the next-gen SDN open control plane API, aiming at fixing the shortcomings of OpenFlow and capable of delivering true switch silicon independence for carriers and cloud service providers. In this tutorial, we provide a technical overview of P4 and P4Runtime, highlighting benefits and challenges for their adoption. Moreover, we present some of the open source projects enabling the next-gen SDN stack based on P4, such as Stratum and ONOS. Finally, we discuss some of the use cases, including Trellis, a silicon-independent fabric for edge and access services, and the possibility to offload VNFs from servers to switches, such as the mobile 5G user plane and the BNG for residential access.
I'm a Member of Technical Staff at Open Networking Foundation (ONF) where I'm currently leading the technical activities around the adoption of programmable data planes, P4, and P4Runtime in ONF projects such as ONOS and CORD. This is a community-driven effort part of the P... Read More →
