netdev - PF_RING: Include in main line kernel?

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Date:	Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:33:08 -0600
From:	Brad Doctor <brad.doctor@...il.com>
To:	netdev@...r.kernel.org
Cc:	Luca Deri <deri@...p.org>
Subject: PF_RING: Include in main line kernel?

Greetings,

On behalf of the users and developers of the PF_RING project, we would
like to ask consideration to include the PF_RING module in the main
line kernel.

PF_RING (http://www.ntop.org/PF_RING.html) is a kernel module that
implements an mmap()-ed memory ring for accelerating packet capture
and for providing all the basic features a network monitoring
application needs. PF_RING includes several features such as packet
filtering, balancing across capture applications, packet reflection
(i.e. capture application can decide to bounce selected packets onto
an as-specified interface). Packets are filtered both using BPF and
using ACL-like rules (e.g. tcp and ports from 80 to 100). Using
PF_RING it is also possible to exploit multiple RX queues provided by
modern NIC adapters. PF_RING achieves a significant speedup by making
only one copy of the packet. Additionally, PF_RING is able to operate
in a capture-only installation, further increasing performance.

PF_RING has been around since 2003 and is very mature with an active
contributing developer base. The developer and user community use a
mailing list (http://listgateway.unipi.it/pipermail/ntop-misc/) for
discussions and submissions. PF_RING is used in several projects,
ranging from distributions such as DD-WRT/OpenWrt to improving
performance of applications like Snort and Wireshark. Many commercial
companies around the world in the field of intrusion detection and
traffic analysis rely on PF_RING for accelerating their products and
operations.

The PF_RING module relies on a small patch to net/core/dev.c that
intercepts when a packet is received/transmitted so that it can be
passed to the PF_RING module when present and with an active listener.
Other than these minor changes, all the PF_RING code is
self-contained, comprising jut two files: ring.c and ring.h. PF_RING
is the result of many years of research and development specifically
into high-speed packet capture, and is homegrown. PF_RING uses the
stock GPL license.

We feel that PF_RING is ready to be included with the mainline kernel.
We are ready and eager to support PF_RING for the long term.

Thank you in advance for your consideration!

-brad
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