An Efficient Caching Mechanism for End-host Network Functions

The end host serves as a natural enforcement point for various network functions (NFs), such as network address translators (NATs), firewalls, and load balancers. However, due to the limitations of the Linux networking stack, NFs struggle to achieve high performance when utilizing high-speed network interfaces. The eXpress Data Path (XDP) is a high-performance framework for packet processing within the Linux kernel. It operates as an optimized execution point before the networking stack. In contrast to kernel-bypass solutions like DPDK, XDP offers an appealing alternative by providing comparable performance with lower CPU usage.In this paper, we propose PFC, a novel approach that leverages XDP for Pre-Function table Caching. PFC acts as a packet header processor for incoming packets, it consists of two distinct facets: one involves traffic management within the end host, and the other focuses on processing requests from distributed applications. Experimental results show that PFC can significantly increase throughput and achieve the equivalent performance compared to DPDK. Furthermore, PFC can integrate seamlessly with existing systems without requiring any modifications to the applications.