P4, eBPF and Linux TC offload
Dinan Gunawardena & Jakub Kicinski
In this talk we discuss the mechanisms of utilizing the eBPF language to perform hardware accelerated network packet manipulation and filtering. P4 programs can be compiled into eBPF scripts for offload in the Linux kernel using the Traffic Classifier (TC) subsystem. We demonstrate how, using eBPF as an intermediate language, it has been possible to extend the TC to either Just In Time (JIT) compile eBPF code to x86 assembler for software offload or to IXP byte code for execution in a trusted hardware environment within the Netronome Agilio intelligent server adapter. We finish by encouraging the audience to experiment with their own eBPF applications within the TC hardware accelerated system. The TC kernel patches are available on the Linux Kernel Networking mailing list as a Request For Comment (RFC) contribution.
