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ndni

README.md

ndn-dpdk/ndni

This package implements NDN layer 2 and layer 3 packet representations for internal use in NDN-DPDK codebase.

Layer 2 implementation follows NDN Link Protocol v2 (NDNLPv2) specification, revision 59. It supports indexed fragmentation, PIT token, network nack, and congestion mark features.

Layer 3 implementation follows NDN Packet Format specification, version 0.3. The decoder supports TLV encoding evolvability in most situations.

Low-Level TLV Functions

This package provides low-level pktmbuf and TLV functions including:

  • Encoding and decoding of VAR-NUMBER used in TLV-TYPE and TLV-LENGTH.
  • Encoding and decoding of NonNegativeInteger.
  • Creating indirect pktmbuf.
  • Linearizing pktmbuf.

Name Representation

A name is represented as a buffer containing a sequence of name components, i.e. TLV-VALUE of the Name element. TLV-LENGTH of the Name element cannot exceed NameMaxLength; this constant can be adjusted up to around 48KB, but it has implication in memory usage of table entries.

Two C types can represent a name:

  • LName includes a pointer to the buffer of name components, and TLV-LENGTH of the Name element.
  • PName additionally contains offsets of parsed name components.

All name components must are in a consecutive memory buffer. If this condition is not met, calling code must linearize the Name element's TLV-VALUE with TlvDecoder_Linearize function. Having a linearized buffer, one can trivially construct an LName, or invoke PName_Parse function to construct a PName. Neither types own the name components buffer.

PName contains offsets of name components. Internally, it only has space for the initial PNameCachedComponents name components. However, its APIs allow unlimited number of name components: accessing a name component after PNameCachedComponents involves re-parsing and is inefficient. PName_ComputePrefixHash function computes SipHash of the name or its prefix, which is useful in table implementation.

In Go, ndn.Name type should be used to represent a name. To interact with C code, temporary allocate a C.PName via Go ndni.PName type.

Packet Representation

In C, Packet type represents a L2 or L3 packet. Packet* is actually struct rte_mbuf*, with a PacketPriv placed at the private data area of the direct mbuf. Within a PacketPriv:

  • LpL3 contains layer 3 fields in NDNLPv2 header, accessible via Packet_GetLpL3Hdr.
  • LpL2 contains layer 2 fields in NDNLPv2 header.
  • LpHeader combines LpL3 and LpL2, accessible via Packet_GetLpHdr.
  • PInterest is a parsed Interest, accessible via Packet_GetInterestHdr. It must be used together with the mbuf containing the Interest packet.
  • PData is a parsed Data, accessible via Packet_GetDataHdr. It must be used together with the mbuf containing the Data packet.
  • PNack represents a parsed Nack, accessible via Packet_GetNackHdr. It overlays LpL3 (where NackReason field is located) and PInterest.

Packet_GetType indicates what headers are currently accessible. Attempting to access an inaccessible header type would result in assertion failure.

To receive and parse a packet, calling code should:

  1. Ensure the direct mbuf has sufficiently large private data area for a PacketPriv.
  2. Cast the mbuf to Packet* with Packet_FromMbuf function.
  3. Invoke Packet_Parse function to parse the packet. NDNLPv2 headers are stripped from the mbuf during this step. Bare Interest/Data is considered valid LpPacket.
  4. If Packet_GetType indicates the packet is a fragment, perform reassembly according to LpL2, and invoke Packet_ParseL3 to parse network layer.
  5. At this point, PInterest, PData, or PNack becomes available, and the mbuf only contains Interest or Data packet. Fragmented names are moved or copied into consecutive memory, allocated from the same mempool as the input mbuf. LpL2 is overwritten but LpL3 survives.

Interest Decoding Details

PInterest_Parse function decodes an Interest. If the Interest carries a forwarding hint, up to PInterestMaxFwHints names are recognized, and any remaining names are ignored. The decoder only determines the length of each name, but does not parse at component level. PInterest_SelectFwHint function activates a forwarding hint, parses the name into components on demand; only one name can be active at any time.

Although the packet format specifies Nonce as optional, it is required when an Interest is transmitted over network links. Thus, PInterest_Parse requires Nonce to be present. It stores the position of Nonce, InterestLifetime, and HopLimit elements in nonceOffset and guiderSize fields. Interest_ModifyGuiders uses this information to modify these fields.

The decoder can accept unrecognized non-critical elements in most situations. One exception is that, if there are too many unrecognized non-critical elements such that they inflate the distance between Nonce and HopLimit beyond 255 bytes, decoding will fail. Also, Interest_ModifyGuiders does not preserve unrecognized non-critical elements between Nonce and HopLimit.

Packet Encoding

There are limited support for packet encoding.

  • InterestTemplate struct and related functions can encode Interest packets.
  • DataGen struct and related functions can generate Data packets from a template without signing.
  • DataEnc_* functions can generate Data packets with payload without signing.
  • Nack_FromInterest turns an Interest packet into a Nack packet in-place.