Fastable: Enabling Table-based Fast Path for End Host Networking

As Software-defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) continue to evolve, the demand for high-performance networking is growing rapidly. The networking stack is widely recognized as a major bottleneck for fast packet processing. Traditional methods of bypassing the kernel can improve performance, but at the cost of consuming additional CPU cores. The eXpress Data Path (XDP) provides a high-performance data path for packet processing within the Linux kernel, offering substantial advantages by executing packet operations at the earliest stage of the networking stack. In this paper, we present Fastable, a novel approach that leverages XDP for pre-stack packet processing. Motivated by the observation that most NFV workloads predominantly operate on packet headers rather than payloads, Fastable embeds packet processing rules directly within the XDP program. This design enables a streamlined processing path for incoming packets, thereby optimizing performance. Our experimental results demonstrate that Fastable significantly improves throughput and achieves performance on par with DPDK-based solutions. Furthermore, Fastable is compatible with commodity hardware and requires no modifications to the Linux kernel or the underlying Network Functions (NFs), making it a highly suitable for deployment in existing network infrastructures.