Currently, core networking architecture is facing disruptive developments, due to the emergence of SDN for control, NFV for services and so on. SDN promises more versatility in routing and managing traffic flows, while NFV represents a large shift in how network functions and services are built, deployed, and managed. We present OpenPATH (aPplication Aware software-defined swiTcHing framework)—A software-defined switching framework for NFV processing and orchestration of Network Functions (NFs) and steering the flows through service chains. Inspired by the potential benefits of encapsulating the application logic into the SDN dataplane, OpenPATH is built on the concept of a modular dataplane, which consists of two layers - switching fabric layer to control packet forwarding; and switch management layer, which inspects the incoming packets, steers the flows through a sequence of NFs and determines the next forward/drop action. The application logic of the NFs can be introduced and pushed to the dataplane at runtime and the framework offers fast packet processing and I/O functionalities to support NF parallelism in the Service Function Chaining (SFC) scenarios. OpenPATH is a modular framework for software switches and offers flexibility for programming run time functions depending on the dynamic behavior of the network traffic and cyberattacks. The architecture components are not hard-coded or rigidly implementations in conventional switches/bridges and standard OpenFlow based SDN stacks. The design allows the vendors, operators, or developers to configure policies at run time and deploy custom logic and NF (also series of NFs) through software programs embedded in the switching fabric. While the basic concept is similar to some pioneering works in this area, OpenPATH does not sacrifice portability, performance, or security for programmability. The OpenPATH as a programmable switching platform takes a different approach to meet most of the requirements of application-aware and intent-based networking. OpenPATH helps administrators to quickly configure network security services using a rich set of standard APIs, with simplified flow tables. The evaluation shows that our design can leverage complex states in the data plane without overloading the SDN controller. Compared to conventional SDN methods, this provides much greater versatility and precision. The key findings indicate that OpenPATH achieves lower cost for scaling, higher overall throughput, and reductions in latency for real-world service chains.

当前，由于SDN控制、NFV服务等的出现，核心网络架构正面临颠覆性的发展。SDN 承诺在路由和管理流量方面具有更多功能，而 NFV 则代表了网络功能和服务构建、部署和管理方式的巨大转变。我们提出OpenPATH（应用程序感知软件定义交换框架）— 一种软件定义交换框架，用于 NFV 处理和网络功能 (NF) 的编排以及通过服务链引导流。受将应用逻辑封装到 SDN 数据平面的潜在好处的启发，OpenPATH 建立在模块化数据平面的概念之上，它由两层组成——交换结构层，用于控制数据包转发；和交换机管理层，它检查传入的数据包，引导流通过一系列 NF，并确定下一个转发/丢弃操作。NF 的应用逻辑可以在运行时引入并推送到数据平面，并且该框架提供快速的数据包处理和 I/O 功能，以支持服务功能链 (SFC) 场景中的 NF 并行性。OpenPATH 是一个用于软件交换机的模块化框架，并根据网络流量和网络攻击的动态行为为运行时功能的编程提供了灵活性。架构组件不是硬编码或在传统交换机/网桥和基于标准 OpenFlow 的 SDN 堆栈中严格实现。该设计允许供应商、运营商或开发人员在运行时配置策略，并通过嵌入在交换结构中的软件程序部署自定义逻辑和 NF（也是一系列 NF）。虽然基本概念类似于该领域的一些开创性工作，但 OpenPATH 并没有为了可编程性而牺牲可移植性、性能或安全性。OpenPATH 作为可编程交换平台采用不同的方法来满足应用感知和基于意图的网络的大部分要求。OpenPATH 使用一组丰富的标准 API 和简化的流表帮助管理员快速配置网络安全服务。评估表明，我们的设计可以在不使 SDN 控制器过载的情况下利用数据平面中的复杂状态。与传统的 SDN 方法相比，这提供了更大的多功能性和精度。主要发现表明，OpenPATH 实现了更低的扩展成本、更高的整体吞吐量和现实世界服务链的延迟减少。这提供了更大的多功能性和精度。主要研究结果表明，OpenPATH 实现了更低的扩展成本、更高的整体吞吐量和现实世界服务链的延迟减少。这提供了更大的多功能性和精度。主要研究结果表明，OpenPATH 实现了更低的扩展成本、更高的整体吞吐量和现实世界服务链的延迟减少。