An Open-Source P416 Compiler Backend for Reconfigurable Match-Action Table Switches

TL;DR

This paper introduces an open-source compiler backend for P416 programs targeting V1Model switches, enabling researchers to experiment with mapping algorithms and analyze resource usage without proprietary restrictions.

Contribution

It provides the first open-source backend for P416 to V1Model switches, facilitating innovation and experimentation in switch programming and resource mapping.

Findings

Heuristic-based mapping algorithms effectively map P416 programs.

The backend provides detailed resource usage statistics.

Enables rapid prototyping of new mapping strategies.

Abstract

The P4 language has become the dominant choice for programming the reconfigurable match-action table based programmable switches. V1Model architecture is the most widely available realization of this paradigm. The open-source compiler frontend developed by the P4 consortium can execute syntax analysis and derive a hardware-independent representation of a program written using the latest version of P4 (also known as P416 ). A compiler backend is required to map this intermediate representation to the hardware resources of a V1Model switch. However, there is no open-source compiler backend available to check the realizability of a P416 program over a V1Model switch. Proprietary tools provided by different hardware vendors are available for this purpose. However, they are closed source and do not provide access to the internal mapping mechanisms. Which inhibits experimenting with new mapping algorithms and innovative instruction sets for reconfigurable match-action table architecture. Moreover, the proprietary compiler backends are costly and come with various non-disclosure agreements. These factors pose serious challenges to programmable switch-related research. In this work, we present an open-source P416 compiler backend for the V1Model architecture-based programmable switches. It uses heuristic-based mapping algorithms to map a P416 program over the hardware resources of a V1Model switch. It allows developers to rapidly prototype different mapping algorithms. It also gives various resource usage statistics of a P416 program, enabling comparison among multiple P416 schemes.