Run-time support systems

This chapter discusses the software that is used on network systems. This software can be structured into the control plane software that implements routing protocols and other control functions and the data plane software that implements packet forwarding operations. Router systems, where ease of code development is more important than high performance, may use conventional operating systems to implement control and data plane functionality. Most modern operating systems have support for efficient network processing. In high-performance routers, specialized router operating systems are used to provide support for scalable and heterogeneous router platforms. Data path processing in these systems may use modular router software, which permits dynamic configuration of data plane functionality. Run-time systems for packet processing platforms manage the dynamic module allocation process in response to changes in network traffic.