The SoftRouter Architecture

In current routers, implementations of the control and forwarding functions are colocated and tightly integrated by static association of control and forwarding elements. In this paper, we present the SoftRouter architecture that permits dynamic association between control and forwarding elements, and separates the implementation of control plane functions from packet forwarding functions. In this architecture, all control plane functions are implemented on general purpose servers called the control elements (CE’s) that could be multiple hops away from the forwarding elements (FEs). A network element (NE) or a router is formed using dynamic binding between the CEs and the FEs. We argue that this flexibility results in several benefits including increased reliability, increased scalability, increased security, ease of adding new functionality, and decreased cost.