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In this tutorial, you will learn how to set up a p4Runtime P4Runtime-enabled Mellanox Spectrum switch, using the ONOS SDN controller. The following set of instructions have been tested using the ONOS fabric.p4 topology.

Table of Contents

Requirements

  • 1 or more Spectrum DVS based switches with the following minimum versions:
    • 4.9.30-OpenNetworkLinux
    • SX-SDK Version: 4_2_7000X019
    • SX-API Version: 1.0.0
    • SXD Version: 1.00
    • Firmware Version of Device #1: 13.1600.156
    • Custom P4-Runtime gRPC server

Prepare the switch

With the SDK and all necessary MST tools installed the switch process can be started.

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Alternatively, you may install the provided init.d scripts that perform the above commands on reboot. Currently, the mlnx_grpc_server starts on the switch with the fabric.P4 program deployed. The program is configured later by ONOS using P4Runtime.  

Understanding the pipeconf for the fabric.P4 program

In ONOS the term pipeconf (short of pipeline configuration) is used to describe the ensemble of P4 compiler artifacts and ONOS driver for a specific P4 program. A pipeconf is the entity that allows ONOS to deploy and control a given P4 program. A pipeconf is defined as an ONOS application that can be loaded at runtime. Currently the only pipeline supported for Spectrum is fabric.p4, although support for other pipelines will be forethcoming. You can see the ONOS repository for the fabric.p4 pipeline description. It provides basic MPLS based forwarding capabilities along with packet-in/out support and counters. Among others, this pipeconf defines two important classes, an interpreter implementation, and a pipeconf loader. The fabric pipeline can be found in github here.  

Interpreter

The interpreter is what enables ONOS to understand the specific constructs of your P4 Program. For example, the Interpreter enables the translation from ONOS traffic treatments to P4-defined actions.

The interpreter implementation for the fabric pipeconf can be found here. 

Pipeconf loader

This class is usually defined as an OSGi runtime component and is used to register the pipeconf at runtime. As part of this operation, this class is responsible for putting together all the pieces of a pipeconf, such as:

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Looking at the pipeconf loader implementation, you can see we can also add driver behaviors specific to that P4 program/pipeline, such as the Pipeliner and the PortStatisticsDiscovery. We also need to set a pipeconf ID, which has to be globally unique as it will be used to refer to that pipeconf in the netcfg JSON later.

Walkthrough

Moving to the ONOS controller on the server, assuming you downloaded it and placed your pipeconf in it.

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  • org.onosproject.generaldeviceprovider (General Device Provider)

  • org.onosproject.drivers (Default Drivers)

  • org.onosproject.protocols.grpc (gRPC Protocol Subsystem)

  • org.onosproject.protocols.p4runtime (P4Runtime Protocol Subsystem)

  • org.onosproject.p4runtime (P4Runtime Provider)

  • org.onosproject.drivers.p4runtime (P4Runtime Drivers)

  • org.onosproject.drivers.mellanox (Mellanox Drivers)

Build and push a configuration json

Having all the needed components in ONOS in place we can now tell ONOS about the device(s) and let the interaction begin.

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You should see that the connected label ports are plugged in, administratively and operationally up.

Use

At this point if everything went well you should be able to push flow rules defined with PiCriterion and PiInstruction according to the fabric.P4 program deployed on the device. 

Simulation using Mininet and BMV2

You can simulate a fabric topology using a physical Spectrum switch and virtial software switches (BMV2 under mininet).

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