Features and Protocols Available on SONiC

Class of Service (CoS)

DSCP

Define the Differentiated Services code point (DSCP) mapping that is applied to the packets.

Schedulers, Shaping, and Queuing

You use schedulers to define the properties of output queues. These properties include the amount of interface bandwidth assigned to the queue, the size of the memory buffer allocated for storing packets, the priority of the queue, and the random early detection (RED) drop profiles associated with the queue. Output queues are mapped to forwarding classes, and classifiers map incoming traffic into forwarding classes based on IEEE 802.1p or DSCP code points.

You can shape traffic for a specific port on a router or for a specific CoS queue.

Output queue scheduling defines the class-of-service (CoS) properties of output queues.

WRED

Weighted random early detection (WRED) drop profiles define the drop probability of packets of different packet loss probabilities (PLPs) as the output queue fills. During periods of congestion, as the output queue fills, the switch drops incoming packets as determined by a drop profile, until the output queue becomes less congested.

Depending on the drop probabilities, a drop profile can drop many packets long before the buffer becomes full, or it can drop only a few packets even if the buffer is almost full.

Priority-Based Flow Control

Priority-Based Flow Control (PFC) is a link-level flow control mechanism defined by IEEE 802.1Qbb that allows independent flow control for each class of service to ensure that no frame loss from congestion occurs in data center networks. PFC is an enhancement of the Ethernet PAUSE mechanism, but PFC controls classes of flows, whereas Ethernet PAUSE indiscriminately pauses all of the traffic on a link. Also known as priority flow control.

PFC Watchdog

Use the PFC watchdog to detect and resolve PFC pause storms. PFC watchdog is activated by SONiC configuration on a PFC enabled interface.

Explicit Congestion Notification

Explicit congestion notification (ECN) enables end-to-end congestion notification between two endpoints on TCP/IP based networks. The two endpoints are an ECN-enabled sender and an ECN-enabled receiver. ECN must be enabled on both endpoints and on all the intermediate devices between the endpoints for ECN to work properly. Any device in the transmission path that does not support ECN breaks the end-to-end ECN functionality.

DHCP

DHCP Relay

Forwards DHCP packets between clients and servers.

Access Control List (ACL)

ACL

ACL provide a means of protecting your router from excessive traffic transiting the router to a network destination or destined for the Routing Engine.

Note: Juniper Networks’ PTX10008 router running SONiC supports ACL only at the ingress (IPv4 and IPv6) level. Egress is not supported.

ACL is also known as firewall filters.

Layer 2

Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP)

Allows network devices that operate at the lower layers of a protocol stack (such as Layer 2 bridges and switches) to learn some of the capabilities and characteristics of LAN devices available to higher layer protocols, such as IP addresses. The information gathered through LLDP operation is stored in a network device and is queried with SNMP.

MACSec

Media Access Control security (MACsec) provides point-to-point security on Ethernet links. MACsec is defined by IEEE standard 802.1AE.

MAC Table Aging

Modify the timeout interval for the MAC table.

MTU Setting

Specify the maximum transmission unit (MTU) size for the media or protocol. The default MTU size depends on the device type. Changing the media MTU or protocol MTU causes an interface to be deleted and added again.

Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP)

LACP is one method of bundling several physical interfaces to form one logical aggregated Ethernet interface. LACP is a subcomponent of the IEEE 802.3ad standard and is used as a discovery protocol.

Link Aggregation Group (LAG)

IEEE 802.3ad link aggregation enables you to group Ethernet interfaces to form a single link layer interface, also known as a link aggregation group (LAG) or bundle. Supports up to 512 bundles; up to 64 member links per bundle.

Layer 3

IPv4

Supports IPv4 address family.

IPv6

Supports IPv6 address family.

Dual Stack

Supports dual-stack (IPv4 and IPv6). Dual stack device is a device with network interfaces that can originate and understand both IPv4 and IPv6 packets.

ECMP 128

Supports 128 equal-cost paths for external BGP peers.

Logging

Syslog

Stores system log messages such as events and sends it to a syslog server.

Network Time Protocol (NTP)

Synchronize the clocks of routers and other hardware devices on the Internet.

SNMP

Enables the monitoring of network devices from a central location.

SSH/SSHv2

Enables SSH (secure shell) to connect to remote devices securely over a network.

TACACS+

Enables TACACS+ authentication, which is a method of authenticating users who attempt to access the router or switch.

Management VRF

Enable a dedicated management virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instance.

FTP/SFTP

Allows File Transfer Protocol (FTP) requests from remote systems to the local device. Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) is a network protocol that provides file access, file transfer, and file management over any reliable data stream.

Warm Restart

Allows you to restart various SONiC components without impacting the data plane.

Note: Warm restart at system level is not supported.

Protocols

BGP

BGP exchanges routing information among routers in different autonomous systems.

MPLS

MPLS configuration in SONiC is supported only through cRPD for forwarding packets to the destination in MPLS network.

Routing Stack

cRPD

cRPD is the routing protocol process (rpd) that can run in Linux-based environments.