Core VPP plugins

VPP-Agent core VPP plugins (e.g. plugins which are always required when working with the VPP). Plugin list:

• GoVPP Multiplexer
• Interface plugin
• L2 plugin
• L3 plugin

GoVPPMux plugin

More in: GoVPPMux plugin

The GoVPP mux plugin is Agent’s wrapper around the GoVPPand provides access to the VPP. Every plugin can interact with the VPP using the GoVPP mux, which provides an independent communication channel to the VPP instance. The communication is done via shared memory segment prefix, and the plugin also supports custom prefixes to connect to the correct VPP instance in the multi-VPP environment.

Interface plugin

More in: Interface plugin

The interface plugin creates various types of interfaces (e.g. DPDK, MEMIF, TAP …) in the VPP, and also configure base fields (IP address, MAC address) or more advanced features like unnumbered interfaces or RX-mode.

L2 plugin

More in: l2-plugin

The VPP L2 plugin is a base plugin which can be used to configure link-layer related configuration items to the VPP, notably bridge domains, forwarding tables (FIBs) and VPP cross connects. The L2 plugin is strongly dependent on interface plugin since every configuration item has some kind of dependency on it.

L3 plugin

More in: l3-plugin

The VPP L3 plugin is capable of configuring ARP entries (including proxy ARP), VPP routes and IP neighbor feature. The L3 plugin is dependent on the interface plugin in many aspects since several configuration items require the interface to be already present.

Other VPP plugins

VPP-Agent supplementary VPP plugins which are in most cases dependent on default plugins in some way. Plugin list:

• Access Control List (ACL)
• ACL-based forwarding (ABD)
• IPSec plugin
• NAT plugin
• Punt plugin
• STN plugin
• Telemetry plugin

ACL plugin

More in: ACL plugin

The ACL plugin handles the configuration of the VPP access control lists. The ACL stands out as the permission attached to a given interface. If rules defined in the access list are met by the incoming traffic, packets are allowed to perform defined action.

ACL-based forwarding (ABF) plugin

Implementation of the ACL-based forwarding feature.

IPSec plugin

More in: IPSec plugin

The IPSec plugin allows to configure security policy databases and security associations to the VPP, and also handles relations between the SPD and SA or between SPD and an assigned interface. Note that the IPSec tunnel interfaces are not a part of IPSec plugin (their configuration is handled in the VPP interface plugin).

NAT plugin

More in: NAT-plugin[nat-plugins]

Network address translation, or NAT is a method of remapping IP address space into another IP address space modifying address information in the packet header. The VPP-Agent Network address translation is control plane plugin for the VPP NAT implementation of NAT44. The NAT plugin is dependent on interface plugin.

Punt plugin

More in: punt-plugin

The punt plugin provides access to the VPP punt feature, where incoming VPP traffic matching pre-defined rules is ‘punted’ or redirected.

Telemetry

More in: telemetry plugin

The telemetry plugin collects telemetry statistics from the VPP which are then exported for monitoring.

STN plugin

The implementation of the control plane for the VPP STN (Steal the NIC)

Linux plugins

This page contains the user guide for VPP-Agent Linux plugins which configure host OS. These plugins can be used as they are, or together with the VPP plugins.

• Linux Interface plugin
• Linux L3 plugin
• IP-tables plugin
• Namespace plugin

Linux Interface plugin

More in: Linux Interface plugin

The Linux interface plugin processes Linux interfaces related to the adjacent VPP configuration (VEth, TAPv2). Virtual Ethernet interfaces can be directly created by the Agent.

Linux L3 plugin

More in: Linux L3 plugin:

The Linux L3 plugin can be used to configure Linux routes or ARPs.

IP-tables plugin

Implementation of the Linux IP-tables feature.

Namespace plugin

More in: Namespace plugin

The namespace plugin is a helper plugin tied with the Linux interface/l3 plugins. It manages namespaces in terms of Linux (named namespace) or as a microservice in the container-based environment.

Connection plugins

Connection plugins are VPP-Agent plugins allowing data read or write from outside without data store.

• REST plugin
• GRPC plugin

REST plugin

More in: REST plugin

VPP-Agent REST API support and REST plugin including security.

GRPC plugin

More in: GRPC plugin

The base of the GRPC support in the VPP-Agent is a GRPC plugin, which is an infrastructure plugin allowing to handle GRPC requests.

Database plugins

User guide for VPP-Agent database plugins.

• Datasync abstraction plugin
• Data Broker plugin
• ETCD
• Redis
• Consul
• Bolt
• Cassandra
• FileDB

Datasync plugin

More in: Datasync plugin

Package datasync defines the interfaces for the abstraction of a data synchronization between app plugins and different backend data sources.

Data Broker plugin

More in: Data Broker plugin

The VPP-Agent data broker abstraction.

ETCD

More in: ETCD plugin

The Etcd plugin provides access to an ETCD key-value data store.

Redis

More in: Redis plugin

The Redis plugin provides access to an Redis key-value data store.

Consul

More in: Consul plugin

The Consul plugin provides access to a consul key-value data store.

Bolt

The Bolt plugin provides access to a Bolt key-value data store.

Cassandra

The Cassandra plugin provides access to a Cassandra MYSQL data store.

FileDB

More in: FileDB plugin

The fileDB plugin allows to use the file system of a operating system as a key-value data store.

Infra plugins

User guide for VPP-Agent infra plugins.

• KV Scheduler
• Configurator
• Orchestrator
• Status Check
• Index Map plugin
• Log Manager
• Messaging/Kafka
• Process Manager
• Service Label plugin

KV Scheduler

More in: KVScheduler plugin

The KV Scheduler is the first step in any VPP or Linux related data processing. It validates the existence of the configuration item dependencies, handles local caching and performs retries if possible or allowed by the underlying plugin. The KV Scheduler does not operate with data directly (does not call any VPP binary API), only determines what operations are needed to achieve the desired result. Data are processed into low-level objects in adjacent VPP/Linux plugins.

Configurator

Configurator plugin.

Orchestrator

In a scenario where a single Agent instance receives configuration data from multiple sources (KV data store, GRPC, etc), orchestrator is used to synchronizing retrieved data and resolve conflicts from individual sources. Data-processing plugins then see the data as from the single source.

Status Check

More in: Status Check plugin

An infrastructure plugin monitors the overall status of a CN-Infra based app by collecting and aggregating partial statuses of agents plugins.

Index Map plugin

More in: Index Map plugin

The idxmap package provides an enhanced mapping structure.

Log Manager

More in: Log Manager plugin

Log manager plugin allows to view and modify log levels of loggers using REST API.

Messaging/Kafka

More in: Messaging/Kafka plugin

The client package provides single purpose clients for publishing synchronous/asynchronous messages and for consuming selected topics.

Process Manager

More in: Process Manager plugin

The process manager plugin provides a set of methods to create a plugin-defined processes instance implementing a set of methods to manage and monitor them.

Service Label plugin

More in: Service Label plugin

The service label is a small Core Agent Plugin, which other plugins can use to obtain the microservice label, i.e. the string used to identify the particular VNF.