KR100552515B1 - Apparatus and method for packet processing - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is to efficiently perform resource allocation for packet processing in a network in which IPv4 packets and IPv6 packets are mixed. The present invention is to determine the protocol of received packets and classify the packets according to each protocol. A protocol field lookup unit for generating a plurality of buffers, a plurality of buffers for storing the packets classified by the protocol field lookup unit for each protocol, a network processor processing the packets received from the buffers, and the protocol field lookup unit A packet processing apparatus including a buffer manager for receiving the packet information from the terminal and changing the size of the buffers in accordance with the packet information.

IPv4, IPv6, PPP, Resource Allocation, Packet Processing, Buffer

Description

Packet processing apparatus and method {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PACKET PROCESSING}             

1 is a diagram illustrating a process of establishing a PPP link between two systems.

2 illustrates the form of packets transmitted over a link.

3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a packet processing apparatus according to the prior art.

4 is a diagram according to the present invention, illustrating a configuration of a packet processing apparatus for separating and processing an IPv4 packet and an IPv6 packet.

5 is a diagram illustrating a message form defining information exchanged between a protocol field lookup unit, a buffer manager, and a network processor, which are components of the present invention;

6 is a flow chart illustrating a process of separating and processing an IPv4 packet and an IPv6 packet in accordance with the present invention.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for processing a packet in a network. More specifically, the present invention relates to an IPv4 packet (Internet Protocol packet of version 4, hereinafter referred to as "IPv4 packet") and an IPv6 packet (Internet protocol packet of version 6, hereinafter ". An apparatus and method for processing an efficient packet (including both an IPv4 packet and an IPv6 packet) on a mixed network of IPv6 packets.

Information generated by protocols or higher-layer applications processed at the network layer is called packets (also called datagrams) .Token ring, Fiber Distribution Data Interface (FDDI), Ethernet, and Integrated Services Digital Network (ATM), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Point to Point Protocol (PPP), etc. Taking PPP as an example, PPP consists of three components. First, a method of encapsulating packets over a serial link; second, a link control protocol for testing, configuring, and establishing data link connections; and finally, a network for configuring and setting up other network layer protocols. A set of network control protocols. To communicate over a PPP link consisting of these components, a link control protocol packet (LCP) is first transmitted to test and configure the data link. The network control protocol packet must then be sent to configure and determine one or more network layer protocols. After all these steps, each network layer protocol can send packets through the link layer. In this way, the link is configured for communication until the link is disconnected due to an external link control protocol packet or a network control protocol packet or an external event occurs. The PPP must reach the network layer protocol state and the IP control protocol must reach the open state before packets can be sent. When the link is established up to the network layer as described above, packets are transmitted through the established link. 2 is a diagram illustrating a format of a packet transmitted through an established link as an example.

As shown in FIG. 2, each packet generally includes an address field 202, a control field 204, a protocol field 206, a payload 208, and a frame check sequence (FCS) field 210. It is composed. The fields 202 to 206 containing information for data transmission, which are attached to the payload 208 which is data to be transmitted, are called headers. Network systems receiving the packet obtain information for packet transmission by referring to the header. The address field 202 contains the address of the destination, and the control field 204 contains a sequence number to ensure proper processing. 2 includes numerical values FF and 03 in the address field 202 and the control field 204, respectively, which is one example only and is not specific.

3 is a diagram according to the prior art, which shows a packet processing apparatus for processing a received packet.

As shown in FIG. 3, the packet processing apparatus includes a protocol field lookup unit 300, a buffer 310, and a network processor 320. The protocol field lookup unit 300 obtains the packet information by referring to the header of the packet received from the link, and transmits the received packet to the buffer 310. The network processor 320 receives the packet from the buffer 310 and performs packet processing.

On the other hand, in the current IPv4, as a transition period newly transitioned to IPv6, which is newly proposed to solve the address shortage due to the IPv4 addressing system, there may be frequent cases where IPv4 and IPv6 are mixed on the network. . Since the processing of the IPv4 packet and the IPv6 packet of the network processor 320 is different, the network processor 320 further checks whether the received packet is an IPv4 packet or an IPv6 packet by examining the IP header of the received packet. It must be done. The network processor 320 decapsulates the PPP frame received through the PPP link, and classifies whether the packet is an IPv4 packet or an IPv6 packet through an IP packet header process in the IP packet. One IPv6 packet is encapsulated in the information area of the PPP data link layer frame, and the PPP data link layer frame has a value of 0x0057 in the protocol area 206 indicating version 6, the next generation Internet protocol, and in the case of IPv4, '0x0021. Has a value of '. Thus, by referring to the protocol area 206, the protocol of the packet can be known.

On the other hand, conventionally, even in a network in which only IPv4 or IPv6 exists, resources of the buffer 310 and the network processor 320 for processing IPv6 or IPv4 have to be allocated, resulting in unnecessary waste of resources. In addition, even in a network in which IPv4 packets and IPv6 packets are mixed, resources allocated for IPv4 packets and IPv6 packets are fixed, resulting in waste of resources. This is because resources allocated for IPv4 packets are used only for IPv4 packet processing, and resources allocated for IPv6 packets are used only for IPv6 packet processing. A packet processing apparatus and method for dynamically allocating allocated resources according to the ratio of received packets, even if a link in which IPv4 packets and IPv6 packets are mixed does not maintain a constant ratio of received IPv4 packets and IPv6 packets. Is required. In addition, there may be a network in which not only two packets of IPv4 packets and IPv6 packets but also several packets are mixed. In such a case, there will be a need for a packet processing apparatus and method for efficiently processing a plurality of packets in a network system.

An object of the present invention is to provide a packet processing apparatus and method capable of efficiently performing packet processing in a network in which packets of two protocols can be mixed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a packet processing apparatus and method capable of reducing the waste of resources occurring in a network in which packets of two protocols can be mixed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a packet processing apparatus and method for enabling efficient resource allocation by changing resources allocated for processing each packet according to a protocol-specific ratio of received packets.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a packet processing apparatus and method capable of efficiently performing packet processing in a network in which packets of a plurality of protocols may be mixed.

The present invention is to provide a separate buffer for storing the packet of each protocol so that the network processor does not need to perform the process of distinguishing the protocol of the received packet. In addition, efficient resource allocation is achieved through link establishment and monitoring of the amount of packets received from the link, thereby preventing waste of resources. To this end, the present invention is to determine the protocol of the received packets to classify the packets for each protocol, and to generate the packet information according to the classification result, the protocol field lookup section, and the packets classified by the protocol field lookup section A plurality of buffers stored for each protocol, a network processor that receives the packet information from the protocol field lookup unit, and processes the packets received from the buffers according to the packet information, and the packet from the protocol field lookup unit A buffer manager for receiving information, comparing packet amounts of each protocol with reference to the packet information, reducing the size of a buffer to store a small amount of packets, and increasing the size of a buffer to store a large amount of packets; We propose a packet processing apparatus characterized by the above.

The present invention also provides a first process of determining a protocol of a received packet, a second process of storing the packet separately for each protocol, counting the amount of packets for each protocol, and a packet amount for each protocol using the count value. Comparing a third process with a fourth process of reducing the size of a buffer for storing packets of a protocol having a low amount of reception and increasing the size of a buffer for storing packets of a protocol with a large amount of reception according to the comparison result. We propose a packet processing method characterized by including the.

Meanwhile, in describing the present invention as described above, a network in which packets of two protocols, an IPv4 packet and an IPv6 packet, are received through a PPP link will be described as an example to facilitate the description. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the present invention can be applied to all links through which packets of different protocols are received. Before the detailed description of the present invention, the terms used to describe the present invention will be described. An "IPv4 packet" is a word referring to an IP packet of version 4, and an "IPv6 packet" is a term referring to an IP packet of version 6. An example "PPP link" to facilitate the description of the present invention is a protocol for encapsulating and transmitting IP packets over a point to point link. IPCP (Internet Protocol Control Packet) is a control packet for transmitting an IPv4 packet on a link. "IPv6CP (Internet Protocol Version 6 Control Packet)" is a control packet for transmitting an IPv6 packet on a link.

On the other hand, unlike the terms described above, in order to facilitate the description of the present invention, the terms "packet processing" and "packet information" have been defined to add the following additional meanings. "Packet processing" means packet processing performed by a network processor on a packet received from a buffer. Determination of a packet performed by the protocol field lookup unit referring to a packet field and temporary storage of a packet performed by the buffer may also be considered as part of the packet processing process. However, in the following description of the present invention, only the operation of the network processor is referred to as packet processing. It will be called. "Packet information" means information such as the protocol of a packet supported by the established link, the packet amount of each protocol received through the link, and the like.

4 is a diagram of a packet processing apparatus for separating and processing an IPv4 packet and an IPv6 packet according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the present invention includes a protocol field lookup unit 200, a buffer manager 400, and buffers 410 and 420 required for data transmission in a PPP header. As a buffer, two buffers are used: buffer 1 410 for storing IPv4 packets and buffer 2 420 for IPv6 packets. Buffer 1 410 is a buffer for storing IPv4 packets, and buffer 2 420 is a buffer for storing IPv6 packets. After determining the protocol of the received packet by referring to the packet information stored in the protocol field 206, the protocol field lookup unit 300 stores the IPv4 packet in the buffer 1 410 and stores the IPv6 packet in the buffer 2 420. Save it. The protocol field lookup unit 300 stores the received packets in the buffer 1 410 or the buffer 2 420 according to the protocol, counts the amount of IPv4 packets and IPv6 packets, and transfers the count values to the buffer manager 400. do. The buffer manager 400 receiving the count value controls the network processor 320 to change the sizes of the buffer 1 410 and the buffer 2 420 according to the ratio of the received packets. The count value is transferred from the protocol field lookup unit 300 to the buffer manager 400 and the network processor 320 in the form of a message shown in FIG. 5 to be described later.

The protocol field lookup unit 200 determines whether the link supports only IPv4 or both IPv4 and IPv6 from information obtained at link establishment. When the link supports both IPv4 and IPv6, the protocol field lookup unit 200 determines whether a packet received through the link is an IPv4 packet or an IPv6 packet. The determination of the packet protocol is made by referring to the information contained in the protocol field 206 of the header of the received packet. When the IPv4 packet is received, the protocol field lookup unit 200 transmits the received packet to buffer 1 410, which is a buffer for storing IPv4 packets, and stores the received packet. Transmit and store to buffer 2 (420). The protocol field lookup unit 200 counts received IPv4 packets and IPv6 packets, respectively, and transmits corresponding information to the buffer manager 400. Information determined by the protocol field lookup unit 300 is transmitted to the buffer manager 400 and the network processor 320 in the form of a message shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a message form that defines information exchanged between a protocol field lookup unit, a buffer manager, and a network processor.

As shown in FIG. 5, messages exchanged between the protocol field lookup unit 400, the buffer manager 400, and the network processor 400 include link information, IPCP (Internet Protocol Control Packet information, IPv6CP information, and IPv4 packet count information). It may be configured to include IPv6 packet count information, etc. The link information includes data link information of the established link IPCP information and IPv6CP include link information of a network layer, and the IPCP information transmits an IPv4 packet. IPv6CP is network layer information for transmitting IPv6 packets, and information on whether a link supports both IPv4 and IPv6 packets or only IPv4 packets can be obtained using IPCP and IPv6CP information. IPCP information and IPv6CP information can be obtained at link establishment IPv4 packet count and IPv6 packet count for each received packet. An IPv4 packet count and an IPv6 packet count are necessary for performing buffer management according to the present invention.

The buffer manager 400 may change the resource allocated by the network processor 320 to process the packet according to the ratio of the received packet amount. That is, the buffer manager 400 allocates all resources of the network processor 320 for IPv4 packet processing if only IPv4 packets are received through the link, and for all packet processing of the network processor 320 if only IPv6 packets are received. Allocate resources for IPv6 packet processing. When both the IPv4 packet and the IPv6 packet are received, an efficient packet processing can be achieved by increasing the resources of the processor allocating for processing more received packets as well as changing the size of the buffer.

6 is a flowchart according to the present invention showing a process of separating and processing an IPv4 packet and an IPv6 packet.

Referring to the drawings will be described the operation of the present invention. In the following description, a PPP link is used as a link for transmitting a packet. To communicate over a PPP link, one must first send a link control protocol packet to test and configure the data link, and then a network control protocol packet to configure and determine one or more network layer protocols. Once this is done, you can see what network protocols are supported on the PPP link. In step 600, a PPP link is established between two network devices. The PPP link establishment process is shown in FIG. Referring to Figure 1 will be described the process of establishing a PPP link. A PPP link is a link that is set up 1: 1 between two systems. The PPP link establishment process can be largely composed of a link establishment process and a network layer establishment process. The network layer setting process may be divided into a network layer setting process for transmitting an IPv4 packet and a network layer setting process for transmitting an IPv6 packet.

Steps 101 to 111 are for establishing a data link between two systems, System A 100-1 and System B 100-2, which are to establish a PPP link. First, System B (100-2) requesting the establishment of a PPP link requests an environment configuration by transmitting an LCP packet to establish a data link to System A (100-1), which is to be a partner of the established PPP link. (101). Three packet exchanges are made between System A 100-1 and System B 100-2, beginning with System B 100-2 sending LCP packets. The three packet exchanges consist of a request for environmental information for link establishment by the system B 100-2 and a response from the system A 100-1. The three packet exchanges thus determine the accuracy of link establishment. For that.

Processes 121 through 151 establish a network layer between system A 100-1 and system B 100-2. In particular, processes 121 through 131 establish a session for transmitting an IPv4 packet. The system B 100-2 requesting link establishment transmits an IPCP (IPCP), which is a control packet for an IPv4 packet, to the system A 100-1. As shown in FIG. 1, between the system A 100-1 and the system B 100-2, a PPP session for transmitting an IPv4 packet in step 131 after two IPCP transmissions and exchange of response signals thereto is performed. Is set.

Steps 141 to 151 are for establishing a session for transmitting an IPv6 packet. System B (100-2) requesting link establishment is required to distinguish System A (100-1) from v6 to distinguish it from Internet Protocol Version 6 Control Packet (IPv6CP), which is a control packet for IPv6 packets, and IPv4, a control packet for IPv6 packets. Add). As shown in FIG. 1, between the system A 100-1 and the system B 100-2, a PPP session for transmitting an IPv6 packet in step 151 after two IPv6CP transmissions and exchange of response signals thereto is performed. Is set. As such, when the network layer session is established, IP packets are transmitted through the link.

Only steps 121 to 131 are performed to establish a PPP link requiring only IPv4 packet transmission, and only steps 141 to 151 are performed to set a PPP link requiring only IPv6 packet transmission. Steps 121 to 151 are performed to set up a PPP link requiring transmission of both IPv6 packets.

If the PPP link is established, in step 602, the buffer manager 400 determines whether the configured PPP link supports IPv6, that is, whether an IPv6 packet is received through the PPP link. The buffer manager 400 may determine the IPCP and IPv6CP information of the message shown in FIG. 5 received from the protocol field lookup unit 300. According to the determination result in operation 602, the buffer manager 400 determines resource allocation of the buffers 410 and 420 and the network processor 320. If the PPP link supports only IPv6, the buffer manager 400 allocates both buffer 1 410 and buffer 2 420 for IPv4 packets in step 640, and the network processor 320 determines IPv6 packets in step 642. Omits the processing for the control and controls to perform only the processing for the IPv4 packet.

On the other hand, if the PPP link supports both IPv4 and IPv6, the buffer manager 400 starts buffer management in step 604. Buffer management is to change the size of buffer 1 (410) and buffer 2 (420) to store each packet according to the amount of IPv4 and IPv6 packets received. That is, if more IPv4 packets are received than IPv6 packets, the size of buffer 1 410 is increased while storing the IPv4 packet, while the size of buffer 2 420 is reduced. Conversely, if more IPv6 packets are received than IPv4 packets, the size of buffer 2 420 for storing IPv6 packets is increased and the size of buffer 1 410 is reduced. The buffer manager 400 which has started the buffer management sets the size of the buffer 1 410 and the buffer 2 420 at 1: 1 in step 606. In step 608, the buffer manager 400 checks whether there is a received packet. When the reception of the packet ends, the buffer management ends.

In step 610, the buffer manager monitors a packet load. That is, the ratio of the IPv4 packet amount and the IPv6 packet amount is measured by counting the received IPv4 packet and IPv6 packet amounts. Steps 612 and 620 are steps of determining which of the IPv4 packets and the IPv6 packets is more received. If there are many IPv4 packets, the buffer manager 400 decreases the size of the buffer 2 420 and increases the size of the buffer 1 410 in step 614 to secure more areas for storing the IPv4 packets. On the contrary, if there are many IPv6 packets, the buffer manager 400 decreases the size of the buffer 1 410 and increases the size of the buffer 2 420 in step 622 to secure more area for storing the IPv6 packet.

In FIG. 6, the size of the buffer 1 410 and the buffer 2 420 is changed according to a simple comparison between the IPv4 packet amount and the IPv6 packet amount. However, in this case, the packet processing apparatus according to the present invention determines the packet size. It may be too sensitive to changes in volume. In order to prevent such a phenomenon, the packet processing apparatus may set a threshold and use it as a reference value of the comparison. That is, the size of the buffers 410 and 420 is changed when the difference between the IPv4 packet amount and the IPv6 packet amount exceeds a predetermined value set as a threshold. In this case, the threshold value may be appropriately selected according to the characteristics of the system, such as the size of the buffers 410 and 420 included in the packet processing apparatus and the amount of packets received through the link. For example, in systems where the size of buffers 410 and 420 is small or the rate of packet volume received over the link does not change often, setting the threshold to a small value can make the system sensitive to changes. have. Conversely, in systems where the size of the buffers 410 and 420 is large, or where the proportion of the amount of packets received frequently changes, it may be more efficient to set a larger threshold. As described above, in the present invention, the buffer for IPv4 packet and the buffer for IPv6 packet are separately provided, and the resource allocation for each packet is dynamically performed according to the packet information so that efficient resource allocation is achieved.

On the other hand, the present invention as described above may be equally applicable to a case where a link other than the PPP link described as an embodiment is set. In addition, the present invention can be extended not only to a network in which IPv4 packets and IPv6 packets are mixed, but also to all networks in which packets of different protocols are mixed, which require different processing. In addition, the present invention can be extended not only to a network in which two protocol packets are mixed, but also to a network in which two or more packets of a plurality of protocols can be mixed. Of course, the applicable network system includes a component corresponding to the protocol field lookup section of the present invention, and determines the protocol of the packet in which the component is received, temporarily stores it in a buffer, and then transmits the packet to the processor. It is a system having a configuration to perform processing. In such a network system, the present invention can be applied by having a buffer equal to the number of protocols of packets that can be mixed on the network. That is, the protocol field lookup unit determines the protocol of the packet received from the link, and transmits the packet to the buffers according to the protocol of the packets. Configuration and operation of changing the size of the buffer in accordance with the amount of each packet received is the same as the present invention. In this way, the application of the present invention is possible by increasing the number of buffers for classifying and storing the packets of the protocol whenever the protocol of the packets that can exist on the network increases one by one.

By separating and buffering packets for each protocol as in the present invention, the network processor enables independent processing for each packet according to the protocol, and omits processing for network protocols that are not supported. This eliminates the need for allocating resources for unsupported protocols. The buffer manager dynamically adjusts the buffer size allocated to each network protocol through the buffer manager, thereby enabling efficient communication according to the amount of packets received and the amount of packets received. The present invention enables efficient packet processing and resource allocation on a network where two or more packets of different protocols can coexist.

Claims (16)

A protocol field lookup unit for classifying packets of received packets by classifying the received protocols and generating packet information according to the classification result; A plurality of buffers for storing the packets classified by the protocol field lookup unit for each protocol; A network processor for processing packets received from the buffers; Receive the packet information from the protocol field lookup unit, compare the packet amounts of each protocol with reference to the packet information, reduce the size of the buffer to store the small packet, and the size of the buffer to store the large packet. Packet processing apparatus comprising a buffer manager for increasing the. The packet processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the packet information includes link information of a data link layer, link information of a network layer, and a packet amount of each received protocol. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network processor receives the packet information from the protocol field lookup unit and allocates a resource for packet processing according to the packet information. delete delete delete The packet processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the buffer manager uses a predetermined threshold as a reference value for comparing packet amounts of protocols. 8. The packet processing apparatus of claim 7, wherein the threshold is determined by a change in the size of the buffers and the amount of each received packet. The control signal of claim 2, wherein when it is determined by the packet information that there is only one protocol of the received packet, the buffer manager allocates a resource only to a buffer for storing a packet of the protocol among the buffers. Packet processing apparatus, characterized in that for outputting. 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processor allocates all packet processing resources to process packets of the protocol. A protocol field lookup unit which determines a protocol of a packet received through a point-to-point protocol (PPP) link, classifies the received packets by each protocol, and generates packet information according to the classification result; A plurality of buffers for storing the packets classified by the protocol field lookup unit for each protocol; A network processor for receiving the packet information from the protocol field lookup unit, allocating a resource for packet processing according to the packet information, and processing the packets received from the buffers; Receive the packet information from the protocol field lookup unit, compare the packet amounts of each protocol with reference to the packet information, reduce the size of the buffer to store the small packet, and the size of the buffer to store the large packet. Packet processing apparatus comprising a buffer manager for increasing the. 12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the packet information includes link information of a data link layer, link information of a network layer, and a packet amount for each protocol received through the point-to-point link. A first step of determining a protocol of a received packet; A second step of dividing and storing the packet for each protocol and counting the amount of packets for each protocol received; A third step of comparing the packet amount for each protocol by using the count value; And a fourth process of reducing the size of the buffer for storing the packets of the protocol having a small amount of reception and increasing the size of the buffer for storing the packets of the protocol with a large amount of reception according to the comparison result. Way. delete The packet processing method according to claim 13, wherein the comparison of the third process is performed using a predetermined threshold as a reference value of the comparison. The packet processing method of claim 15, wherein the threshold is determined by a change in the size of the buffers and the amount of packets for each protocol received.

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