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Architecture Overview

The Infrastructure Management Layer is a Kubernetes-native platform that allows management and orchestration of network functions and programmable targets. It provides a unified interface for deploying, scaling, and managing network functions across a variety of programmable targets, including P4-enabled switches, FPGAs, and SmartNICs.

System level view

To achieve this, we have designed IML as a collection of modular systems, each of them with their own responsibility. As a result of this, the platform is made up of three core subsystems:

  • the network function scheduling system, responsible for the scheduling and orchestration of network functions across the different targets;
  • the P4Target addon system, in charge of integrating both software and hardware programmable targets into the platform;
  • and IML's own networking plugin, which provides the necessary networking capabilities to allow communication between network functions and external applications, such as IP address management and traffic steering.