Writing Fine-grained Measurements App with P4 Programmable Switches

Overview

Data plane programmability with P4 has recently attracted significant attention from both the research community and the industry, permitting network engineers to run customized packet processing functions in the data plane. One of the main features of P4 switches is the real-time visibility in the data plane. This feature enables users to develop new applications that use precise measurements (up to nanosecond resolution) for performance improvements, cybersecurity, troubleshooting, per-packet analysis, and more. his tutorial will provide Information Technology (IT) professionals and practitioners (network engineers, students, instructors) with an introduction to P4 programmable switches, followed by applications that produce and use precise network measurements. The tutorial will cover first the fundamentals of programmable switches: P4 building blocks, parser implementation, and match-action tables. Then, the tutorial will continue with network measurements and applications: monitoring the switch’s queue using standard metadata; measuring flow statistics using direct and indirect counters; measuring flow RTT, packet loss, and throughput; identifying TCP congestion control type using packet inter-arrival time; and other applications.

Audience

IT educators, practitioners, and professionals in general (network engineers, system administrators, etc.) with basic background in networking.

Required Equipment

No specialized equipment is required. All material will be accessible via web browsing. Presentations will be conducted via Zoom. For hands-on sessions, attendees will access a virtual platform deployed for the workshop.

Outcomes

By the end of this workshop, attendees will:

Agenda

Monday, September 18