[dev] FRR3 and VPP router, Zebra FIB push to FPM

[Joe Botha]

Hi!

I'd like to use FRR and VPP together as a router.

I'm planning to use Free Range Routing 3.0.2's bgpd and
zebra as the control plane, and using zebra's FIB push
feature to manage a VPP 17.10 control plane.

I'm busy building a python app which acts as a forwarding
plane manager (fpm) and listens for the netlink messages
which zebra sends. I'll then add and remove routes in VPP
with the VPP Python API.

That's the current plan.

I've looked into the Sandbox Router related links:

https://wiki.fd.io/view/VPP_Sandbox/router
https://github.com/FRRouting/frr/wiki/Alternate-forwarding-planes:-VPP
https://lists.fd.io/pipermail/vpp-dev/2017-July/005828.html

Some questions:

Does the FPM plan above make sense, or
is there an obvious easier way to do this?

Should I be building the FPM to use Protobuf messages,
rather than Netlink?

Know of any other FPM projects for FRR and VPP I can look
at? Seems ONOS does something similar in Java.

Would I need the tap devices in the OS, as the VPP Sandbox
router plugin uses? or, do I just add other "dummy"
interfaces in the OS which match the IPs of the real DPDK
interfaces?

Does anybody know of a project that's connecting FRR3 and
VPP 17.10, or similar new'ish versions, to end up with a bgp
border router?


-- 
Swimmingly,
 Joe 
 
 www.swimgeek.com/blog  +27 82 562 6167  instagram.com/joe.swimgeek
        "...all progress depends on the unreasonable man."