daPIPE a Data Plane Incremental Programming Environment

Abstract

DaPIPE is a programming environment that supports a developer in writing P4 code to be integrated into the pre-existing data plane program of a network device, without affecting the pre-installed network operating system. This paper discusses the challenges related to such a task and how daPIPE addresses them. In presenting daPIPE we show how it is successfully used to add a novel feature required by a specific use case to a Tofino-based Cisco switch of the Nexus 3400 family.