Abstract
Packet classification is implemented in modern network routers for providing differentiated services based on packet header information. Traditional packet classification only reports a single matched rule with the highest priority for an incoming packet and takes an action accordingly. With the emergence of new Internet applications such as network intrusion detection system, all matched rules need to be reported. This multi-match problem is more challenging and is attracting attentions in recent years. Because of the stringent time budget on classification, architectural solutions using ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) are the preferred choice for backbone network routers. However, despite its advantage on search speed, TCAM is much more expensive than SRAM, and is notorious for its extraordinarily high power consumption. These problems limit the application and scalability of TCAM-based solutions. This paper presents a tree-based multi-match packet classification technique combining the benefits of both TCAMs and SRAMs. The experiments show that the proposed solution achieves significantly more savings on both memory space and power consumption on packet matching compared to existing solutions.
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Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the Basic Research Program of Shenzhen municipal government (Outstanding Young Scholar, JC201005270274A), the Program of Strategic Emerging Industries Promotion of Shenzhen (JCYJ20130331144751105), the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2012CB315904) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61179028).
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Shen, R., Li, X. & Li, H. A space- and power-efficient multi-match packet classification technique combining TCAMs and SRAMs. J Supercomput 69, 673–692 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-014-1109-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-014-1109-x