Common non-wildcard portion-based partitioning approach to SDN many-field packet classification

Abstract

Many-field packet classification is a challenging function of the devices in software-defined networking. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm, which partitions a ruleset in a simple way based on non-wildcard portions of the rules. A portion can be a field or a sub-field. The algorithm uses hash tables as the base data structure. In a partition, all the members have a common non-wildcard portion, which is used as the hash key. It means that only a portion of the rules and headers is used for hashing. It simplifies using the hash table for packet classification, which deals with the ternary vectors. The proposed algorithm supports fast updating as a required feature for most of today’s networks. Extensive simulations are conducted to evaluate the algorithm and compare it with well-known algorithms. Results show that the proposed algorithm has a 196% higher throughput and 81% faster update than Tuple Space Search as the base classification algorithm of OpenVSwitch.