CNS Core: Small: Transparent Network Acceleration

随着连接设备的增加，网络流量也在增加。我们每天使用的应用程序，如视频会议，都需要对流量进行处理，以确保应用程序的安全性和优化。目前的网络基础设施显示，在不久的将来，它将无法跟上不断增长的需求或增加的需求，例如有更多参与者的更高清晰度视频通话和难以察觉的通信延迟。虽然已经提出了一些解决方案来帮助解决这个问题，但它们是以兼容性为代价的，这将需要重写已经开发和测试了十多年的大量软件。这个提议引入了一种新的思考网络流量处理方式的方式，它将在满足应用程序需求的同时，使现代软件能够向前和向后兼容。特别地，本提案引入了透明网络加速（TNA），这是一种新颖的架构，它将Linux网络功能分解为快速路径和慢路径功能，并为每种功能显式优化了执行环境。TNA动态地、自动地构建一个在运行时实例化和调整的最小快速路径，从而导致完全保留Linux网络接口的透明加速网络堆栈。介绍了两个核心机制。首先，为了创建高效的快速路径，TNA自动动态地实例化仅使用的部分网络堆栈。引入了新的技术来内省Linux内核，构建函数的依赖关系图，以及组装和部署最优快速路径。其次，它针对两个快速路径执行环境，来自单个模块的源代码描述：(i) eXpress数据路径（XDP），用于内核内处理；（ii）基于现场可编程门阵列（FPGA）的SmartNIC，用于硬件加速处理。作为这些目标的一部分，模块的设计、硬件或软件的编译以及状态的同步代表了一个新颖而完整的设计流程。为了证明这两种核心机制的有效性，我们通过一个自动加速选择性转发单元（SFU）视频会议网络功能的案例研究来完成该项目，该功能的部署考虑了防火墙和容器网络等因素。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With the increase in connected devices comes an increase in network traffic. Applications that we use every day, such as video conferencing, each need to have traffic processed to secure and optimize the application. Current network infrastructure is showing signs that in the near future it won't be able to keep up with the growing demand or increased needs, such as having higher definition video calls with more participants and imperceptible delays in the communication. While some solutions have been proposed to help solve this problem, they do so at the cost of compatibility, which would require rewriting a large body of software that has been developed and tested over the course of over a decade. This proposal introduces a new way of thinking about the way network traffic is handled that will enable both forward and backwards compatibility with modern software while meeting the needs of applications.In particular, this proposal introduces Transparent Network Acceleration (TNA), which is a novel architecture that decomposes Linux network functionality into fast-path and slow-path functions with explicitly optimized execution environments for each. TNA dynamically and automatically builds a minimal fast path that is instantiated and adjusted at run-time, leading to a transparently accelerated networking stack that fully retains the Linux networking interfaces. Two core mechanisms are introduced. First, to create a highly efficient fast path, TNA automatically and dynamically instantiates only the part of the network stack that is used. New techniques are introduced to introspect the Linux kernel, build a dependency graph of functions, and assemble and deploy an optimal fast path. Second, it targets two fast-path execution environments from a single source code description of modules: (i) the eXpress Data Path (XDP), for in-kernel processing, and (ii) a field programmable gate array (FPGA) based SmartNIC, for hardware accelerated processing. As part of these targets, the design of modules, the compilation to hardware or software, and synchronizing the state represent a novel and complete design flow. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of these two core mechanisms, we complete the project with a case study of automatically accelerating a selective forwarding unit (SFU) video conferencing network function deployed with considerations such as firewalling and container networking.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.