The release of OpenFlow software for the Quanta LB4G gigabit Ethernet switch provides a platform for researchers and users of OpenFlow with a low cost option for high port count, hardware accelerated, OpenFlow controlled switches. The switch provides line rate switching across 48 gigabit ports.  Initial support of 4 10-gigabit ports is also provided.

This is an experimental platform for OpenFlow development and research.  For a production ready, supported switch, see the Toroki Lightswitch 4810 announced here.

A PowerPC 8541 CPU running at 825 MHz powers the switch.  Two independent gigabit Ethernet management interfaces are provided, directly connected to the CPU for out-of-band management and control.

The hardware supports between 1000 and 2000 flows in hardware depending on usage.  Once installed, traffic matching flows will be forwarded by hardware at line rate.

The software is based on OpenFlow 0.8.9r2 with support for OpenFlow 0.9 under development.  The distribution includes the u-boot boot loader, a Linux kernel image (2.6.15) and the kernel modules necessary to bring up and run the hardware as an OpenFlow switch.  Basic OS functionality is provided by the popular BusyBox utilities.  Configuration and user applications may be saved to the flash file system to be restored across reboot.

To receive access to the software or to provide feedback regarding the package, please send email to info@openflow.org and include “LB4G” in the subject line.

Let us know what features you’d like to see added to the LB4G software package.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 4:26 pm and is filed under OpenFlow Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.