Intel IXA SDK ACE Programming Framework - Department of ...

Network Service Applications
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Load-balancing systems
Quality of service (QoS) applications
Voice over IP (VOIP) applications
Protocol conversion
Layer 3 forwarding
Packet
Classification
At the highest level, as shown in the following figure, a network services application
consists of the following:
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Interfaces to and from one or more networks (called network interface ports)
Applications that process packets traveling on the networks
Packet flow
Input interface
Application
Output interface
Such an application classifies the packets—that is, it compares the packet contents
against some set of selection criteria. It then takes some action determined by the
result of the classification and disposes of the packets. For example, it might:
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View packets and simply decide whether to pass them to another interface or
application, or to drop them
Collect information about the packets and report on the flow of data
Manipulate the packets in some way
The following figure shows how packets might flow through a forwarding application.
Packet flow
Input interface
Packet classification and action
Yes
In data table?
No
Good packet?
No
Drop
Output interface
Yes; update data
The IXA
Solution
The Intel Internet Exchange Architecture provides an efficient and flexible hardware
and software infrastructure for developing and delivering network services applications.
You can develop applications for this architecture using the application
programming interface (API), the IXA API.
2 Introduction and Overview
Revision 3.3, August 2001