Evaluating the Network Processor Architecture for Application-Awareness

The introduction of deep packet inspection technique has enabled the provision of 'application-specific' QoS. Application-aware processing is a natural extension of this 'higher layer header examination' technique. The introduction of multicore, programmable, network processors has largely contributed to this extension. In addition to network-specific services inherently supported by the NP architecture, application-aware services also find a place in the fast path. In this paper, we examine the feasibility and suitability of porting application-aware operations on network processors. We have selected a popular application of content delivery -both text and media, to demonstrate the process of building application awareness in the network, and to critically examine the scalability of the concept. We also propose a generic evaluation methodology for application-awareness on NPs and adopt the same to evaluate the Intel IXP network processor. One of the highlights of this study is the design and evaluation of XML processing on the Intel IXP architecture. The resource utilization for the two case studies indicate that different demanding services can be easily accommodated on the NP, and that the NPs have 'headroom' to support multiple services.