Graph-To-P4: A P4 boilerplate code generator for parse graphs

Abstract

The work described in this paper presents Graph-to-P4, a toolset for generating P4 boilerplate code from parse graphs. The purpose of such a toolset is to provide a higher level of abstraction to program pipelines in order to fill the knowledge gap that some students may encounter when diving into P4. While P4 is not difficult to learn, Graph-to-P4 offers the possibility first draw parse graphs, generate P4 starter code and finally let programmers develop the specific data plane behavior (actions, tables, etc.). We have experienced that this toolset offers a smooth introduction to P4 and the intrinsic networking concepts attached to it. We show that the toolset has potential to provide a larger set of high-level abstractions (tables, actions, etc.)and an extension to provide a two-way code transformation.