6WINDGate™ Software
Benefits
6WINDGate Profiles
6WINDGate architecture relies on a modular approach.
This modularity is based on three building blocks:
- Fast Path Modules
- Linux Networking Stack
- Control Plane Modules
6WINDGate building blocks can be assembled in
3 different profiles.
6WINDGate Profiles
- The 6WINDGate ADS profile
is targeted for mid-range appliances and equipment. The Control
Plane and Data Plane are co-localized. For multicore architectures
an SMP Linux kernel with an optimized SMP kernel networking stack
runs on all the cores in order to process many packets simultaneously.
- The 6WINDGate EDS profile
is a solution based on a Fast Path architecture. This Fast Path
is implemented as a Linux kernel module between the Linux networking
stack and the interface drivers. So there is no need for a processor-specific
MCEE (Multi Core Executive Environment). Compared to a standard
Linux architecture, forwarding is performed at the driver level.
Only packets that cannot be processed by the Fast Path are forwarded
to the Linux Networking Stack (Slow Path). The 6WINDGate EDS architecture
relies on Cache Manager and Fast Path Manager modules to transparently
integrate and synchronize Fast Path processing and the Slow Path
/ Control Plane. The 6WINDGate EDS profile delivers the best possible
performance in a pure Linux environment.
- The 6WINDGate SDS profile
is targeted for high-end equipment. Similar to the EDS profile,
it is also based on a Fast Path architecture but the Fast Path
is implemented in the MCEE. A number of cores are dedicated to
Fast Path. Fast Past modules run in a dedicated execution space
outside the Linux kernel. Forwarding is performed at the Fast
Path level. The 6WINDGate SDS architecture relies on Cache Manager
and Fast Path Manager modules to transparently integrate and synchronize
Fast Path processing and the Slow Path / Control Plane. The 6WINDGate
SDS profile delivers the highest possible performance that a given
multicore architecture can sustain.
6WIND's modular solutions can be adapted to
specific customer needs and upgraded with new functions or performance-oriented
features. A comparison between 6WINDGate profiles can be found here.
6WINDGate Architecture Overview is available
here.
High Availability
6WINDGate meets the requirements of High Availability
(HA) systems for networking and telecom equipment where five-nines
reliability or zero downtime is critical; it provides HA support
fully integrated into the 6WINDGate software architecture:
- Redundant hardware platforms, each running 6WINDGate with Control
Planes maintaining a coherent view of overall system
- Dual active Fast Path subsystems, providing redundancy between
network interfaces for Non-Stop Forwarding (NSF)
6WINDGate High Availability Architecture Overview
is available here
Application Integration
6WINDGate simplifies the integration of application
software because standard Linux APIs are preserved making Fast Path-based
architectures fully transparent to applications. This maximizes
customer's software reuse and minimizes time-to-market.
6WINDGate's XML-based management system also
simplifies integration with customers' management systems.
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