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Cisco Broadband Cable Command Reference Guide

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Performance Routing Engine Overview<br />

Forwarding Path<br />

3-2<br />

Figure 3-1 Performance Routing Engine Block Diagram<br />

<strong>Cisco</strong> <strong>Broadband</strong> <strong>Cable</strong> <strong>Command</strong> <strong>Reference</strong> <strong>Guide</strong><br />

Chapter 3 <strong>Command</strong>s for the <strong>Cisco</strong> uBR10012 Router<br />

The forwarding path (FP) assembly is a unique blend of hardware and microcoded processors that<br />

provides high forwarding rates with considerable flexibility for future growth in packet processing<br />

features. The FP is centered around a pair of PXF network processors, which are custom <strong>Cisco</strong>-designed<br />

multiprocessor ASICs. Each PXF processor provides a packet processing pipeline that contains<br />

16 microcoded processors, arranged as multiple pipelines.<br />

Each of the 16 processors in a PXF network processor is an eXpress Micro Controller (XMC), which is<br />

an independent, high-performance processor that is customized for packet processing. Each XMC<br />

processor provides a sophisticated dual-instruction-issue execution unit that is programmed to perform<br />

a specific packet-processing task in the most efficient manner. The exact processing function assigned<br />

to each XMC is flexible and can change as new features are added to the <strong>Cisco</strong> IOS software.<br />

Within each PXF network processor, the 16 XMC processors are linked together in four parallel<br />

pipelines, which each pipeline contains four XMC processors arranged as a systolic array. Each XMC<br />

processor performs its own particular function and then passes its results to its neighboring downstream<br />

processor.<br />

The two PXF network processors are linked to form four parallel packet-processing pipelines, each<br />

containing eight XMC processors in a row. See Figure 3-2:<br />

Figure 3-2 Forwarding Path PXF Processor Arrays<br />

Packets<br />

in<br />

Management<br />

interface and<br />

memories<br />

Performance routing engine<br />

Route processor<br />

Forwarding path<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

64 to 512 MB<br />

DRAM<br />

RM 7000<br />

processor<br />

subsystem<br />

PXF network<br />

processor<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

PXF network processor<br />

forwarding path 128 MB<br />

DRAM<br />

Backplane interface and<br />

buffer management<br />

Links to line cards<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

packet<br />

The PXF network processor architecture in the PRE module allows all 32 XMC processors to process<br />

multiple packets independently and efficiently, yielding high throughput while still allowing substantial<br />

feature processing. The PRE module architecture centralizes the main packet processing, freeing up the<br />

other line cards to perform localized processing.<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

PXF network<br />

processor<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

XMC<br />

38240<br />

45275<br />

Modified<br />

packets<br />

out<br />

OL-1581-05

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