research-article

A fast compiler for NetKAT

Authors:

Steffen Smolka,

Spiridon Eliopoulos,

Arjun GuhaAuthors Info & Claims

ICFP 2015: Proceedings of the 20th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Functional Programming

Pages 328 - 341

https://doi.org/10.1145/2784731.2784761

Published: 29 August 2015 Publication History

Abstract

High-level programming languages play a key role in a growing number of networking platforms, streamlining application development and enabling precise formal reasoning about network behavior. Unfortunately, current compilers only handle "local" programs that specify behavior in terms of hop-by-hop forwarding behavior, or modest extensions such as simple paths. To encode richer "global" behaviors, programmers must add extra state -- something that is tricky to get right and makes programs harder to write and maintain. Making matters worse, existing compilers can take tens of minutes to generate the forwarding state for the network, even on relatively small inputs. This forces programmers to waste time working around performance issues or even revert to using hardware-level APIs. This paper presents a new compiler for the NetKAT language that handles rich features including regular paths and virtual networks, and yet is several orders of magnitude faster than previous compilers. The compiler uses symbolic automata to calculate the extra state needed to implement "global" programs, and an intermediate representation based on binary decision diagrams to dramatically improve performance. We describe the design and implementation of three essential compiler stages: from virtual programs (which specify behavior in terms of virtual topologies) to global programs (which specify network-wide behavior in terms of physical topologies), from global programs to local programs (which specify behavior in terms of single-switch behavior), and from local programs to hardware-level forwarding tables. We present results from experiments on real-world benchmarks that quantify performance in terms of compilation time and forwarding table size.

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Cited By

Moeller MJacobs JBelanger ODarais DSchlesinger CSmolka SFoster NSilva A(2024)KATch: A Fast Symbolic Verifier for NetKATProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36564548:PLDI(1905-1928)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3656454
Kappé T(2023)Completeness and the Finite Model Property for Kleene Algebra, ReconsideredRelational and Algebraic Methods in Computer Science10.1007/978-3-031-28083-2_10(158-175)Online publication date: 3-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-28083-2_10
Hussain MShah NAmin RAlshamrani SAlotaibi ARaza S(2022)Software-Defined Networking: Categories, Analysis, and Future DirectionsSensors10.3390/s2215555122:15(5551)Online publication date: 25-Jul-2022
https://doi.org/10.3390/s22155551
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

A fast compiler for NetKAT
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Compilers

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cover image ACM Conferences

ICFP 2015: Proceedings of the 20th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Functional Programming

August 2015

436 pages

ISBN:9781450336697

DOI:10.1145/2784731

General Chair:
Kathleen Fisher
Tufts University, USA
,
Program Chair:
John Reppy
University of Chicago, USA

ACM SIGPLAN Notices Volume 50, Issue 9
ICFP '15
September 2015
436 pages
ISSN:0362-1340
EISSN:1558-1160
DOI:10.1145/2858949
Editor:
Andy Gill
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2015 ACM.

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SIGPLAN: ACM Special Interest Group on Programming Languages

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 29 August 2015

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ICFP'15

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ICFP'15: 20th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Functional Programming

August 31 - September 2, 2015

BC, Vancouver, Canada

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Overall Acceptance Rate 333 of 1,064 submissions, 31%

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ICFP '25

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October 12 - 18, 2025

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Cited By

Moeller MJacobs JBelanger ODarais DSchlesinger CSmolka SFoster NSilva A(2024)KATch: A Fast Symbolic Verifier for NetKATProceedings of the ACM on Programming Languages10.1145/36564548:PLDI(1905-1928)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3656454
Kappé T(2023)Completeness and the Finite Model Property for Kleene Algebra, ReconsideredRelational and Algebraic Methods in Computer Science10.1007/978-3-031-28083-2_10(158-175)Online publication date: 3-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-28083-2_10
Hussain MShah NAmin RAlshamrani SAlotaibi ARaza S(2022)Software-Defined Networking: Categories, Analysis, and Future DirectionsSensors10.3390/s2215555122:15(5551)Online publication date: 25-Jul-2022
https://doi.org/10.3390/s22155551
Greenberg MBeckett RCampbell EJhala RDillig I(2022)Kleene algebra modulo theories: a framework for concrete KATsProceedings of the 43rd ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation10.1145/3519939.3523722(594-608)Online publication date: 9-Jun-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3519939.3523722
Jepsen TFattaholmanan AMoshref MFoster NCarzaniga ASoule R(2022)Forwarding and Routing With Packet SubscriptionsIEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking10.1109/TNET.2022.317206630:6(2464-2479)Online publication date: Dec-2022
https://doi.org/10.1109/TNET.2022.3172066
Milanese MRanzato F(2022)Local Completeness Logic on Kleene Algebra with TestsStatic Analysis10.1007/978-3-031-22308-2_16(350-371)Online publication date: 2-Dec-2022
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22308-2_16
Balldin HReichenbach CErwig MGray J(2020)A domain-specific language for filtering in application-level gatewaysProceedings of the 19th ACM SIGPLAN International Conference on Generative Programming: Concepts and Experiences10.1145/3425898.3426955(111-123)Online publication date: 16-Nov-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3425898.3426955
Jepsen TFattaholmanan AMoshref MFoster NCarzaniga ASoulé RHan DFeldmann A(2020)Forwarding and routing with packet subscriptionsProceedings of the 16th International Conference on emerging Networking EXperiments and Technologies10.1145/3386367.3431315(282-294)Online publication date: 23-Nov-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3386367.3431315
Nagendra VBhattacharya AYegneswaran VRahmati ADas S(2020)An Intent-Based Automation Framework for Securing Dynamic Consumer IoT InfrastructuresProceedings of The Web Conference 202010.1145/3366423.3380234(1625-1636)Online publication date: 20-Apr-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3366423.3380234
Pelle IGulyás A(2019)An Extensible Automated Failure Localization Framework Using NetKAT, Felix, and SDN TracerouteFuture Internet10.3390/fi1105010711:5(107)Online publication date: 4-May-2019
https://doi.org/10.3390/fi11050107
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