An OpenFlow Implementation for Network Processors

OpenFlow is catalyzing the deployment of software defined networking (SDN) technologies around the globe. In practice, however, compatibility issues hinder the deployment of an OpenFlow control plane on a number of network platforms. The FP7 ALIEN project addresses this problem by introducing a Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) which enables OpenFlow capabilities on legacy network elements. This paper presents the implementation of a HAL on programmable network platforms with multi-core CPUs and summarizes the implementation experience gained in the process.