Order Tofino 2 Switch To Get FREE OF CHARGE SwitchON P4 Service

, ,

To fully use the power of P4 Switches like the Tofino2 (DCS810) a bit of work is required.

The process of getting your P4 switch ready to run applications can be quite time consuming, especially if you haven’t done it before.

Therefore to speed the process up and save your valuable time, we recently introduced our SwitchON P4 Service.

As a sign of our commitment to you and the P4 community, we are running a limited offering!

We are providing the SwitchON P4 service FREE OF CHARGE for the first 20 customers that purchase a Tofino 2 (DCS810) system with us.

Purchase a Tofino 2 system now and our knowledged P4 trainer will spend 3 HOURS together with you and run you through the process STEP BY STEP!

And since we have the DCS810 in stock, ready to ship, you will be able to play around with your first P4 applications in no time!

SwitchON P4 main features:
  • Un-boxing and checking parts
  • Racking and connecting
  • Console connection and first start up
  • Building the Barefoot SDE
  • bf_switchd startup
  • Compiling and running a P4 test application

This limited-time offer is available for the first 20 systems only.

Hurry up and order the new 32 X 400G Tofino 2 platform!

Additional STORDIS Products

We also would like to mention the availability of the CREDO HiWire SHIFT AEC, 400G QSFP-DD to 4x 100G QSFP28 Active Electrical Cable, which is the perfect accessory to break out those 400G QSFP-DD ports into 4x100G QSFP28 ports, to connect your switches.

Read The Brochure

Read More About The Switch

Read More About SwitchON P4

Read More About Credo AECs

/by

The P4 Programming Language: Connecting, Configuring, and Running the First Test Application

, , ,

Introduction

The P4 programming language is gaining popularity in the networking industry. It is considered the next step in the evolution of SDN networking.

Programming Protocol-independent Packet Processors (P4) is an open-source, high-level programming language for network devices. It defines how data plane devices (switches, routers, network cards, etc.) process packets.

Before the P4 version, vendors had total control over the functionality supported on the network. Silicon vendors controlled the rollout of new features, and it took a long time (sometimes even years) to bring them to market… This is because a chip redesign is usually required.

What happened after the implementation of P4? You'll learn about that later in this article.

Why Are More And More People Turning To P4?

P4 proved to be a complete game-changer and turned the traditional model around 180 degrees. Changes made by application developers and network engineers, instead of taking years, can be made in just minutes!

P4 allows you to have a real impact on what the network does and how it does it. Properly used, P4 will increase the efficiency of network resources to better handle service workloads.

Getting Started with P4 Capable Network Switch

If you're thinking about switching to P4 but have no idea how to connect and configure it, you're in the perfect place!

We have designed 3 programs to help you take your first steps with a P4 capable network switch, which are appropriately suited to your skill level and current needs. Each has a separate goal and targets different audiences. All this to save a lot of your time and nerves.

SwitchON P4 Service

If you are a Systems or Application Engineer who has received your switch, and you need help or want to make sure someone is watching over your shoulder as you get your new system is up and running with the first "Hello World" scenario, then this is the solution for you.

The SwitchON P4 service will help you get started with a P4 capable network switch. The aim of this training session is to guide you through the initial set-up and operation of your switch.

We will guide you from unpacking the switch to running your first test application, while demonstrating the major features of their first exposure to a P4 development platform.

The entire course takes about 3 hours, which, in our experience, is a comfortable pace at which to achieve the course goals.

The session content is designed to cover all the steps from unboxing to running a first viable test application. Of course, depending on how experienced the Engineer is, we can skip the early stages and move straight to the connection and set-up phase.

For more information click here.

SwitchON+ P4 Service

Similar to the case above - if you are a Systems or Application Engineer who has received your switch, and you want to be guided or assisted whilst you get your new system up and running with your first real-world P4 application, then this SwitchON+ P4 Service is for you.

Hands-on is always the best learning scenario, but this is not always possible. When a system is not available to the Engineer, then we can use one of our test systems to run through the same processes.

SwitchON+ adds more in-depth coverage of some important development and production topics. Such as:

  • building the SDE with different P4 selection profiles,
  • interfacing with your application (gRPC),
  • Network Operating System options
  • P4 application exposure.
You do not need to have any experience with this environment. We will guide you through the entire process, all the way to running the real-world P4 application! In this case, the course takes about 6 hours.

For more information click here.

Switch WorkShop P4 Service

Switch WorkShop P4 Service is ideally suited to the Systems or Applications Engineer (individual or teams not greater than six participants) who are about to embark on the development of a P4-based system or application.

While participants should ideally have some P4 exposure, it is not strictly necessary as the focus of the workshop will be on design.

The goal of the workshop session is to fast-track your design strategy and explore the critical aspects of your development together.

Remember: P4 is just a language for implementing a design. One of our several value-adds is to bridge the real-world gap between what is theoretically possible in P4 and what is actually possible on Tofino-based platforms.

In this case, we will agree with the participants on the structure of the workshop. In the absence of specific requests, the 3-day workshop will be divided into several focused sessions. According to the table below:

Session Plan

1-day

  • Introduction and planning for the workshop.
  • Deep dive into system/application concept and high-level requirements.
  • Presentation and analysis of first-glance strategies and mechanisms of the P4 platform that may address high-level requirements.
  • Arbitrated discussion focusing on the suitability of the platform for design and on any circumvention or alternate strategies where relevant.
  • Planning for the next two days includes design aspects that require special focus and the deliverables that should come out of the workshop.

2-day

  • Develop design of primary strategies and mechanisms carefully allotting time segments to a high-priority set and avoid getting sucked into implementation.

3-day

  • Develop design of primary strategies and mechanisms carefully allotting time segments to a high-priority set and avoid getting sucked into implementation.
  • Drill down on unfinished top priority requirements.
  • Consolidate the work done and the design decisions – plan next steps.

For more information click here.

Read More About Open Networking

Read More About STORDIS Switch Services

Want to Learn More About it?

Get in touch with us and we will answer all of your questions.

Contact Us
/by

P4 Training Course in July 2019

,

July 16th – 19th, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Our latest P4 training course was again incredibly inspiring! Vladimir Gurevich from Barefoot Networks hosted the four-day course on data plane programming in P4, Tofino device architecture, and P4 Studio™ Software Development Environment (SDE). Just like the previous time, the course generated strong interest and the participants were highly motivated to learn and apply their knowledge.

P4 programming language is becoming increasingly popular among companies and developers. After a successful P4 training course in June with more than thirty attendees, the recent course hosted by STORDIS ACADEMY in collaboration with Barefoot Academy again nearly sold out. With the course, STORDIS strives to give all interested parties the chance to learn about data plane programming in P4, Tofino device architecture and P4 Studio™ Software Development Environment (SDE), and ensure a proficient realization to meet everyone’s expectations.

Twenty-seven programmers, developers and system engineers from all over Europe took part in the second P4 Training Course BA-102 hosted by Vladimir Gurevich, Director of Customer Training and Education at Barefoot Networks. BA-102 is an introductory course designed to cover a variety of material, which allows participants to easily read, understand, and modify switch.p4_16 and related APIs. Excerpts from switch.p4_16 were discussed and used as examples throughout the course. The course provided the theoretical basis to data plane development and gave the participants time for practical application of the material.

Following the previous course in June, we aspired to improve the structure of the course and amended the schedule to give every participant more time to engage in the subject and try out the theoretical content of the course. ‘I am very proud of all those motivated students; they become more and more involved each time and are already very well prepared since the first day. And just as every time, it was a pleasure to work together with STORDIS and Delta Networks to make this happen,’ Vladimir says.

Further training courses are scheduled to take place in Autumn 2019:

  • Nov. 12th – 15th

 You will find the registration form and further information about the course content at STORDIS ACADEMY.

If there are any related questions, please contact enquiries@stordis.com

/by

P4 Training Course BA-102

,

The follow-up P4 training course was a huge success! It took place in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on June 11th to 14th 2019, and gave an introduction to data plane programming in P4, Tofino device architecture and P4 Studio™ Software Development Environment (SDE).

After a great start to the P4 training course – BA-101 Introduction to Data Plane Development with Tofino and Capilano™ SDE hosted by STORDIS in collaboration with the Barefoot Academy and Delta Networks last year – it was time to continue programming with the subsequent BA-102 course. A total of thirty-two participants from various universities and companies attended the follow-up course BA-102 on June 11th – 14th in Amsterdam. This intensive four-day training course offered an introduction to data plane programming in P4, Tofino device architecture and P4 Studio™ Software Development Environment (SDE), including Barefoot APIs and development workflows. The event was a huge success and entirely met the expectations of the participants.

BA-102 is an introductory course, designed to cover a variety of material, which allows participants to easily read, understand, and modify switch.p4_16 and related APIs. Excerpts from switch.p4_16 were discussed and used as examples throughout the course. The course provided the theoretical basis to data plane development and gave the participants enough time for practical application of the material. All of the participants were actively engaged in the subject and the four days were filled with an exchange of knowledge and information, and many new experiences.

The course was hosted by Vladimir Gurevich, Director of Customer Training and Education at Barefoot Networks since 2017. Vladimir imparts profound in-depth knowledge and delivers highly efficient and sophisticated trainings all around the globe. “It was a great pleasure to meet all those engaged people from all over Europe to talk with them about data plane development. They became involved quite quickly and kept on trying everything out. The seminar itself was, as always, very well managed, thanks to our organizer STORDIS. And thanks to Delta, who made the premises available,” he said.

Just like the first training course, the subsequent BA-102 course generated strong interest and received far more requests than available places, so another P4 training course will be held on July 16th – 19th. If you would like to learn about the capabilities of P4 or expand your knowledge on data plane programming, please register at STORDIS ACADEMY.

/by

P4 Hackathon in Frankfurt

,

The first P4 Hackathon organized by the P4 Education Working Group was a great success! It was held in Frankfurt, Germany, on March 29th 2019 and P4 users of all levels were invited to join the workshops and tutorials for P4.

The purpose of this event was to encourage the development of innovative, proof-of-concept data plane applications, and to support the open-source community through the development of tools and infrastructure. The organizing committee of the P4 Hackathon, Noa Zilberman (P4 Education Working Group), Robert Soulé (P4 Education Working Group) and Aaron A. Glenn (AAGlenn Internetworking Company) featured a full day of P4 and P4Runtime learning, discussion, and hacking.

P4 is a protocol-independent programming language used to examine, define, and customize the packet forwarding behavior within network devices. P4 is open, easy to access and was rapidly adopted by the industry since its creation in 2013.

As committed sponsor of the P4 Hackathon, STORDIS was delighted to be a part of this venture. It is our ambition to continuously drive innovation in the area of Open Networking forward, and it was a pleasure to get in contact with everyone, and create new collaborations between and within academia and industry. As the Open Networking Expert, we support the development and distribution of P4, and we are proud to be the exclusive partner of Barefoot Networks in Europe.

 

STORDIS P4 Programmable Switches

To exploit the full potential of P4, STORDIS designed a powerful network switch deploying a Barefoot Tofino ASIC. The field-proven architecture of Tofino is the industry’s first-ever P4-programmable network switching ASIC. The recently launched BF2556X-1T and the BF6064X-T deliver a breakthrough performance, full programmability, flexibility of network stack, and upgradability.

STORDIS Advanced Programmable Switches with Barefoot Tofino™ ASIC

/by