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Internet router using merchant silicon describes how a commodity white box switch can be used as a replacement for an expensive Internet router. The solution combines standard sFlow instrumentation implemented in merchant silicon with BGP routing information to selectively install only active routes into the hardware.
The article describes a simple self contained solution that uses standard APIs and should be able to run on a variety of Linux based network operating systems, including: Cumulus Linux, Dell OS10, Arista EOS, and Cisco NX-OS.
The diagram shows the elements of the solution. Standard sFlow instrumentation embedded in the
merchant silicon ASIC data plane in the white box switch provides real-time information on traffic flowing through the switch. The sFlow agent is configured to send the sFlow to an instance of
sFlow-RT running on the switch. The
Bird routing daemon is used to handle the BGP peering sessions and to install routes in the Linux kernel using the standard
netlink interface. The network operating system in turn programs the switch ASIC with the kernel routes so that packets are forwarded by the switch hardware and not by the kernel software.
The key to this solution is Bird's
multi-table capabilities. The full Internet
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