DR-PIFO: A Dynamic Ranking Packet Scheduler Using a Push-In-First-Out Queue

Software-defined Networking (SDN) introduced the decoupling of control and data forwarding planes. Despite advances in the programmability of SDNs, there remains a strong need for a fully programmable packet scheduler in the data plane. In this context, the ability to adapt to various traffic patter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE eTransactions on network and service management Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 355 - 371
Main Authors: Elbediwy, Mostafa, Pontikakis, Bill, Ghaffari, Alireza, David, Jean-Pierre, Savaria, Yvon
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York IEEE 01.02.2024
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subjects:
Algorithms
Computer architecture
data plane programmability
Decoupling
Dynamic scheduling
Error detection
Hardware
High level languages
Performance enhancement
Performance evaluation
Pipelines
Priority scheduling
programmable packet schedulers
programmable queues
Quality of experience
Queues
Ranking
Scheduling algorithms
Software
Software-defined networking
software-defined networks
Throughput
Traffic management
ISSN:1932-4537, 1932-4537
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Software-defined Networking (SDN) introduced the decoupling of control and data forwarding planes. Despite advances in the programmability of SDNs, there remains a strong need for a fully programmable packet scheduler in the data plane. In this context, the ability to adapt to various traffic patterns and the expressiveness of schedulers are of paramount importance. This paper introduces the Dynamic Ranking Push-In-First-Out (DR-PIFO), as an algorithmic model that can be used to develop programmable packet schedulers based on PIFO queues. The DR-PIFO is a highly expressive model, capable of expressing a wide range of work-conserving, non-work-conserving, and hierarchical scheduling algorithms. Additionally, its dynamic ranking capabilities allow for real-time updates to the packet's priority within the scheduler. The proposed solution also performs error detection in the departure order of packets, which is essential to avoid starvation in strict priority scheduling. These features are crucial when implementing popular scheduling algorithms such as the pFabric. The DR-PIFO is evaluated through its algorithmic properties and by implementing two distinct case studies. Its performance is further evaluated by incorporating it as an external module, written in a high-level language, and integrating it with software switches implemented using the P4 language. The results illustrate the superior expressiveness of DR-PIFO over state-of-the-art models such as PIFO and PIEO and confirm that it is an algorithm-agnostic model. Thus, DR-PIFO represents a promising solution for implementing more fully programmable packet schedulers in SDNs, with the potential to improve performance and adaptability.
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ISSN:1932-4537
1932-4537
DOI:10.1109/TNSM.2023.3304894