A Scalable, High Performance Active Network Node

Active networking in an environment built to support link rates up to several gigabits per second prodices many challenges. One such area is that the total available processing power of a router is limited by the memory bandwidth and individual processing power of the router’s microprocessors. In this paper, we identify three key components, which combined promise an innovative active network solution. This solution implements the key features typical to active networking such as automatic protocol deployment and application specific processing and is also suitable for a gigabit environment. First, we make use of a new large scale architecture which we call Distributed Code Caching. Second, we propose the Active Network Node (ANN), a scalable, high performance hardware platform based on off-the-shelf CPUs connected to a gigabit ATM switch backplane. Third, we describe a modular, extensible, highly efficient software framework which implements Distributed Code Caching and load-balancing among the ANN’s CPUs, thus maximizing the computational performance of the ANN.