eBPF Programming Made Easy with eCLAT

Abstract

With the rise of the Network Softwarization era, eBPF has become a hot technology for efficient packet processing on commodity hardware. However the development of custom eBPF solutions is a challenging process that requires highly qualified human resources. In this paper we propose the eCLAT framework with the goal to lower the learning curve of engineers by re-using eBPF code in a programmable way. eCLAT offers a high level programming abstraction to eBPF based network programmability, allowing a developer to create custom application logic in eBPF with no need of understanding the complex details of regular eBPF programming. To support such modularity at the eBPF level, we created an eBPF library that implements a virtual machine, called HIKe VM. The HIKe VM library extends the conventional eBPF programs so that they can be integrated in eCLAT. The eCLAT/HIKe solution does not require any kernel modification.