A Configurable Packet Classification Architecture for Software-Defined Networking

Network management tools must be able to monitor and analyze traffic flowing through network systems. According to the OpenFlow protocol applied in Software-Defined Networking (SDN), packets are classified into flows that are searched in flow tables. Further actions, such as packet forwarding, modification, and redirection to a group table, are made in the flow table with respect to the search results. A novel hardware solution for SDN-enabled packet classification is presented in this paper. The proposed scheme is focused on a label-based search method, achieving high flexibility in memory usage. The implemented hardware architecture provides optimal lookup performance by configuring the search algorithm and by performing fast incremental update as programmed the software controller.